The Worst Thing She Could Do
by Just-Met-A-Girl-Named-Maria
Summary: Rizzo is driving and gets the gang into a huge car wreck. Will friendships, or even lives be cut short? Based on the play.
1. Chapter 1

The Worst Thing She Could Do

_Rizzo is driving and gets the gang into a huge car wreck. Will friendships, or even lives be cut short?_

"Hey Jan, pass me a ciggie," Rizzo called behind her. Jan reached down where the cigarettes were lying on the floor and tossed the box up to Rizzo.

"How's it feel to be driving Rizzo?" Jan asked.

"It feels great!" Rizzo said.

"Keep your eyes on the road!" Kenickie scolded. "I don't want ya wreckin' my car,"

"Sure, you're worried about the _car_," Rizzo snorted. Kenickie laughed.

"You're doin' great Rizz," Kenickie said.

"Good," Rizzo smirked at him.

"Is this really your first time driving Rizzo?" Sandy asked.

"More like my second," she admitted, her cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

"Wow!" Frenchy said. "You're a pro already!"

"French move over!" Marty whined. "I can't breathe!"

The ten of them were all squeezed into Greased Lighting. They were on their way home from the beach, where they had spent their entire day. Each girl was sitting on their boy's lap, except for Rizzo who was driving. Kenickie was sitting next to her in the front seat.

"I ain't got too far to move ya know!" Frenchy retorted.

"Danny stop!" Sandy giggled wildly as her face flushed pink. "Everyone's watching!"

"C'mon Sandy," Danny teased, kissing her cheeks over and over.

"Ah, puke, puke," Rizzo groaned. "You two are makin' me sick,"

"Hey look who's talking'!" Sonny said. "You and Kenick are always at it!"

"Watch it, buster, or I'll bust you!" Rizzo turned back to look at Sonny.

"Rizz, the road!" Kenickie screamed. Rizzo quickly turned the wheel, making each of their stomachs churn. "God, Rizz, you're gonna kill us!"

"Nah, we're fine!" Rizzo shrugged.

"Gee, that was real scary," Jan said, cuddling in closer to Roger.

"Be more careful would ya?" Marty yelled at Rizzo.

"Please, I know what I'm doing," Rizzo said confidently.

"It sure don't look like it," Kenickie muttered under his breath.

"I heard that, ya jerk," Rizzo said, but rather calmly.

"I sure hope we get home soon," Frenchy said, looking nervously out the window. "It's starting to rain awfully hard,"

"We'll be fine," Rizzo assured her. "I got this,"

Frenchy was right. The rain was really coming down hard now. The windshield wipers could hardly keep up with the rain. _Geez I could hardly see…_Rizzo began grinding her teeth and clutching the wheel tighter than ever.

"Ya ok Rizz?" Kenickie asked.

"Yeah I'm fine,"

"Ya wann pull over, and I can drive the rest of the way?"

"No, I can _do_ this," Rizzo insisted.

Suddenly, they were coming up to a merging lane, and there was a truck in front of them trying to merge that Rizzo could hardly see.

"Oh shit!" Rizzo screamed and slammed on the breaks. The wet street prevented them from stopping as fast as they normally would have, and they just kept going. Everything seemed to slow down. They were sliding towards the truck and Rizzo threw her hands up in horror. In those split seconds, Kenickie threw a terrified glance at her and she looked into his eyes, in attempt to apologize for the horrible thing that was about to happen. Roger threw himself on top of Jan, and Frenchy started screaming. Doody froze right where he was, not protecting Frenchy at all. Sandy turned into Danny and clung to him with all her strength and Danny squeezed her tighter than he though possible.

In those horrible moments, Rizzo was something she swore she'd never be. She was weak. She was vulnerable. She was scared. _Terrified_.

The car collided with the truck with a deafening crash.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rizzo opened her eyes, and looked around franticly, not being able to see a thing. She felt around her, and she knew she was trapped in a very small space. Her entire body was aching, especially her head. She couldn't move out of the space she was in, she was trapped. She tried to push her way out, but there was something heavy on the other side that wasn't budging. There was a small crack which she managed to make bigger, and suddenly an arm came dangling through the opening. She stopped breathing. She knew who's arm that was. That arm was attached to Kenickie. There was blood dripping down…and there were shards of glass…

Rizzo yanked her shaking hands through her hair and squeezed her head. What did she do? What did she _do?_

She looked at Kenickie's arm again and let out a shriek.

* * *

Bill hopped out of the fire truck and looked at the wreck before him. What a mess. Whoever was in that car was long gone. Suddenly, there was an ear piercing shriek coming from the wreckage.

"Hey you guys here that?"

He followed the sound of the screaming, and he found the body of a teenage boy lying across the back door of the truck.

"Hey can I get some help here?" the paramedics rushed forward and placed the boy on a stretcher and ran back to the ambulance. Bill and some of his men lifted the massive piece of metal to reveal a teenage girl in a battered pink jacket lying pressed against the floor.

Rizzo looked up and saw light, and she seized the opportunity and crawled out of the small space. She kept crawling until she was crawling on concrete, and she just stopped and collapsed on the ground. She felt hands trying to help her up.

"Don't TOUCH me!" she shrieked and went back to the ground. She turned around and saw the wreck that she had made. She knew it was all over. She had killed everyone. She sat in a ball on a concrete and watched as they pulled apart wreckage. Tears slipped down her face. The empty blackness inside her was enough to make her vomit. The giant lump on her head, the shards of glass inside her, and the bruises were nothing compared to the agony she felt inside of her. She was responsible for the death of nine people. _Nine. _One of them having been the love of her life. Part of her wanted to believe that they were still alive, that they could have somehow survived…but she knew. She knew there was no chance. She had killed them, and her punishment was to have survived it and to watch all the pain she caused. To watch families be ripped apart. To watch lives be ruined.

Someone shouted something and people came rushing forward and lifted the body of someone that looked like Roger. Rizzo sucked in her breath and more tears came flowing down. Then they lifted someone else, and that person came running to her.

"Rizzo!" Jan's voice rang in Rizzo's head. It was heaven to hear the voice of one of them. _I guess only eight…_

Jan sat down and threw her arms around her. "Are ya alright?" Rizzo nodded silently.

"Hold me…" Rizzo whimpered.

"What?" Jan asked, not hearing her.

"Hold…me…" Rizzo burst into hysterical tears and Jan put her arms around her. Rizzo embraced Jan and they sat and cried together, watching them pull body after body out of the piles of glass and metal.

* * *

Rizzo and Jan were examined, and they were both fine, besides the lump on Rizzo's head. She had to keep ice on it, and if she felt dizzy, she was to see a doctor at once. Not that Rizzo paid any attention to that. Jan and Rizzo both sat in the waiting room at the hospital, both wide awake. They sat with their hands clasped together.

"They're all gonna be fine Rizz, I know it," Jan said calmly.

"How can ya sit there and say that?" Rizzo suddenly snapped after hours of silence. "All of you!"

"Rizzo please," Jan said quickly.

"How can ya sit there and lie to me? I killed 'em dammit!" Rizzo shouted, kicking the chair she was sitting on.

"Rizzo!" Jan stood up firmly placed her hands on Rizzo's shoulders. Rizzo looked around at all the people in the waiting room staring at her and she immediately felt the embarrassment. She let Jan push her back into her seat and she buried her face in her hands.

"Ya know Rizzo, you're right," Jan said, and Rizzo looked up at her. "I don't know that they're gonna be ok. But ya gotta hope for the best right?"

Rizzo really did want to agree with her…she really did. They were her friends too, the love of her life. But she couldn't bring herself to lie to her and say she was hopeful too. Because she wasn't. So Rizzo just buried her face in her hands again.


	3. Chapter 3

_Wow, two chapters in one day! I'm on a roll! There might be even more today...I don't know. I love the reviews keep them coming! I'm glad you're enjoying this!_

* * *

Jan sat chewing her nails off. They were merely nubs now. Her toes were on the ground, bouncing her leg up and down so that her entire body shook. They just had to be ok. They just had to. Then she remembered Roger. He had thrown himself on top of her seconds before impact. When she had opened her eyes, there he was on top of her, and he wasn't moving. And then they lifted him up, and she could hardly even think straight. Had her mind been functioning, she would have been screaming and demanding to follow him to the emergency room…but everything was so fuzzy…when they lifted her out, she saw Rizzo, and that was all she could think about.

But now she realized…those short moments where she was under Roger, it might have been the last time she ever saw him.

Then there was Frenchy, and Sandy and Marty…her best friends. She couldn't lose them either…

And Kenickie…what would Rizzo do without Kenickie…?

_No. Stop._ She had to keep believing they were gonna be ok. If she didn't, she might lose it.

Jan had called her parents a couple of minutes ago, and she expected they would come running into the hospital any moment and attack her with hugs. Jan had also called Rizzo's parents, but no one had answered the phone. When they had first arrived she had seen Sandy's, Danny's, Sonny's, Frenchy's and Marty's parents come rushing through the door, along with Doody's mom, and Roger's grandma, who was now sitting next to Jan with her hands clasped in prayer. Suddenly, Jan's prediction had come true.

"Jan!" Her mother exclaimed as she burst through the door. Jan stood up and her mother and father threw her arms around her. "You're alright! Thank God you're alright…" Her mother looked over her shoulder at Rizzo, who was sitting still as a stone, staring straight at the three of them.

"Where are Rizzo's parents?" she asked.

"Don't know. I called them…and I'm sure the hospital did too…but no one answered,"

Her mother gave Rizzo a sympathetic look and sat down next to her. "Are you alright Rizzo?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rizzo said in the same bitter tone that Jan's mother had always heard.

Jan shook her head. It was pointless. Rizzo wasn't going to listen to anyone. Her mother stood up so that Jan could sit down again. After a few minutes of awkward silence, a nurse went walking towards Marty's parents and they stood up and practically ran after the nurse. Rizzo saw it out of the corner of her eye. Maybe it meant that she was alive…_No. _Rizzo tried to kill the hope inside of her. Hope only led to disappointment, which led to pain and suffering. But still, she couldn't help but feel that there was some way that it was all going to be ok…

Soon that same nurse came back and walked over to Jan and Rizzo.

"Your friend Marty," he said smiling down at them. "She's going to be fine. She just has a mild concussion and a broken leg, but she's going to be fine,"

Jan beamed. "Did'ja hear that Rizz? Marty's ok!" Rizzo looked at Jan and forced a smile. "Can we see her?"

"Of course,"

Jan and Rizzo followed the nurse down the long hallways until they finally stopped and went through a door. Marty was talking to her parents, and she looked up and saw the two of them standing there.

"Rizzo! Jan!" she said. "You guys are alright!" With that her parents left with the nurse to give the girls some privacy.

"Sure we are," Jan said running to her side. Rizzo stayed in the doorway with her arms crossed and a distant look on her face.

"Hey," Marty said in a low whisper. "Is she ok? She don't look so good…"

"I don't know…" Jan said. "She thinks she killed everyone…she's scared to death,"

Marty sighed sadly. "Hey Rizzo, come here,"

Reluctantly, she walked over to the bed and sat down next to Jan. "What?"

"So…what'd the doctor say?"

"All I got was a bruise on my head," Rizzo said, with more anger behind it then the other girls picked up. _I should be dead. It's my fault…_

"That's good," Marty said. "My leg is busted, plus I got a concussion. But that ain't so bad right?"

"No," Rizzo said, remembering what Kenickie's arm looked like, and cringing slightly.

"Rizzo…" Marty began. "Are you really ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine,"

"Did ya hear anything about the others?" Marty asked, now thinking about Sonny.

"No," Jan said worriedly. "Marty…I'm scared. I really am. What if…Roger…he was on top of me trying to protect me…if anything happened to him…"

"Jan…I'm sure Roger's fine…he's always pulled through for ya right?"

"Uh-huh," Jan nodded, sniffling. "Rizzo?"

Rizzo was shaking. Her body was trembling uncontrollably.

"You ok?"

"I…I-I'm fine…" she said.

"No you ain't…" Marty said. "Ya need the doctor?"

"No!" Rizzo shouted. "I said I'm f-fine!"

Jan and Marty looked at each other nervously.

"I just…I need a drink. Yeah…ya think they've got beer or something here?" Rizzo asked.

"I dunno…" Jan said. She placed her hands on Rizzo's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Rizzo…you're not ok,"

"Yes I AM!" she screamed, standing up in rage. "There ain't nothing wrong with me! Ya know who there is something wrong with? Marty! And Sonny! Doody, Frenchy, Sandy, Danny, Roger, and K…Kenick…"

Rizzo was unable to finish her sentence before she collapsed in tears on the floor. Jan dropped to her knees and tried to comfort her.

"It's alright Rizz…"

"No it ain't! Ya didn't see it! It was just hanging there…blood dripping everywhere…"

"See what?"

"His arm! _I _did that! _I did all of this! _I _killed_ them all! I killed him…after all we been through…after all the crap I made him put up with…I killed him…"

"Is everything alright in here?" The nurse entered the room and saw Jan holding Rizzo on the floor.

"I'm sorry Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to leave…"

"Let GO of me!" Rizzo pushed everyone away. She quickly wiped her face and stood up and walked out the door. Jan threw an apologetic look at Marty and followed Rizzo. She found her yelling at a nurse.

"We don't keep alcohol here," the nurse said.

"Ya gotta have something…come on I need something…"

"Rizzo!" Jan caught up with her. "I'm real sorry ma'am…she's having a rough night…" Jan pulled Rizzo into the nearest bathroom they found.

"Rizzo, it ain't your fault," Jan said.

"Bull!" Rizzo snapped. "Who else's fault was it?"

"It wasn't anybody's fault! Look Rizzo, some things just happen and no one knows why – "

"I know why it happened! It happened because I'm too damn stubborn. All the things I did…I'm paying for 'em right now. And everybody else has to suffer cuz of me!"

"That ain't true Rizzo, you know that!" Jan knew arguing was pointless. Arguing with Rizzo is impossible to begin with; but add a situation like this and it's hopeless.

Rizzo just stayed silent. She had nothing else to say. Jan figured she should go see if Marty was ok after all that.

Rizzo held herself up by the edges of the sink and looked up.

"Ya know…I haven't done this in…well…I haven't done this. I know I ain't been to church. I know I'm a pretty crummy person. Well, let's face it. I'm a bitch. I know I made some pretty stupid mistakes, and some I never bothered to fix. I hardly talk to my own parents, not that they'd wanna talk to me. I been with a lot of guys…I've hurt lots of people…and I never felt any guilt about any of it. But now…now I've gotta pay for all that. And I get it. I deserve it. But why…" tears were now streaming down her face. "Why did ya have to hurt Kenickie? He never did nothing. Why did it all have to happen like _this? _What are ya trying to prove by killin' everybody else? Why does everybody else have to suffer because of all the crap _I_ did? Everyone's parents are gonna lose a kid. What's that gotta do with me? Jan and Marty are gonna lose a boyfriend…what's that gotta do with me? Kenickie…he's a good guy…he deserves to live his life…he deserves to be happy. Are ya trying to prove a point? Is this some sick joke…? Makin' me have to go on without him? I love him…I thought you were supposed to be this wonderful forgiving guy! Then why can't ya forgive me? Punish me all ya want…but just don't take Kenickie…please…I need him…I can't get through this without hurtin' more people if I ain't got Kenickie…" she could hardly speak anymore, for the tears were coming hard. "I'll never do anything again…I'll go to church and everything…just please…please…if…if ya kill him…I'll never forgive ya…

"I…I'm sorry…"


	4. Chapter 4

_I apologize for the sadness in this story. It's especially hard for me to write because I'm picturing all the characters as my friends and I when we all played the ten girls and guys in the play. Not gonna lie...I kind of cried while writing this chapter..._

* * *

It happened at three A.M. It was quiet in the waiting room. Parents, grandparents, and friends alike were all wide awake, waiting for any news. A few hours earlier, they had all been informed that Frenchy was to undergo surgery. The fact that she and Doody had been sitting by the window on the side of the car that had been damaged most was deadly. Her petite body had almost been crushed under the weight of debris. Even if she did survive the surgery, she would never walk again.

At three A.M. the doctor broke the silence in the waiting room as he walked ominously towards Frenchy's parents. Jan watched nervously, and her heart stopped. Frenchy's mom screamed and began running down the hallway to Frenchy's room. Her dad followed her, his hands trembling. The doctor chased after the two of them, trying to get them to stop.

"What's goin' on?" Jan was shaking. Rizzo's knuckles were white on the arms of the chair she was curled up on. Rizzo knew perfectly well what was going on. In the quiet of the hospital, they could all hear the sound of the hysterical tears of a mother. A mother whose daughter didn't survive her surgery.

Jan refused to believe it. There _had_ to be another reason why she was crying…

The doctor came back and this time walked over to Jan and Rizzo. "I'm so sorry…but…she didn't make it…"

That was it. Jan burst into tears. Her mother wrapped her arms around her and comforted her. Rizzo's face drained of all color. She knew it was going to happen. She knew most of them were bound to die. But now that it had actually happened…

She stared straight ahead of her, not looking at anything specific. Silent tears rolled down her face. Frenchy…little Polly…who Rizzo had been friends with since kindergarten, ever since she had dared her to kiss Doody…She was dead…gone. And it was her fault.

_I knew it had to happen…I knew someone had to die…but why'd it have to be like that? Do ya hear her mother cryin'? What's that gotta do with me? You're messing with people's lives besides mine…you ain't helpin' nobody…_

Jan and Rizzo made their way to Marty's room. When they walked in the doorway, Marty's smile disappeared.

"What's going on? They ain't tellin' me nothing,"

"Um…Marty…" Jan said, sitting down and holding her hand. "Ya know how Frenchy needed that surgery?"

"Uh-huh," Marty said.

"Well…" Jan burst into tears again.

"Oh no…Jan…don't tell me she…" Marty's eyes welled up with tears. When Jan didn't stop crying, Marty knew it was true. They hugged each other, while Rizzo stood in the doorway biting her lip guiltily. Jan got up and put her arms around Rizzo, who remained stiff in her embrace. All the feelings Rizzo had pushed to the back of her mind and locked up were released and she began to cry hysterically. They sat on Marty's bed and the three of them cried on each other for longer than they cared to remember.

* * *

The three girls awoke to the light of day, and it took them each a while to remember where they were and what they were doing there. Then Rizzo panicked. She fell asleep. What if something happened to someone while she was asleep? She wasn't going to let someone else die without her being there for them. She got up and rushed back into the waiting room where the front desk was. Jan hurried after her, afraid of what she might do. On her way there, she noticed the clock said it was about nine o'clock.

"What's going on?" Rizzo questioned the lady at the desk. "Why ain't they tellin' me anything?"

"I'm sorry Miss, I don't know what you're talking about…who are you here to see?"

"My God…" Rizzo ran her fingers through her hair. "The car crash! All those kids! They're my friends! One of them died last night, and I wasn't there to help her! And I'm not letting that happen again! Now you're gonna tell me what's going on!"

"Rizzo!" Jan grabbed her arm. "Sorry," she said quickly. "Ya gotta calm down Rizz,"

"Would you like me to get a doctor so he can tell you what's going on?" the woman asked.

"Yeah," Jan said. "Let's go sit down,"

After minutes of silence, a doctor came walking towards them.

"Ok, well, Dominic is still unconscious, but he is expected to be fine. He should wake up in a couple of days. We had to remove many shards of glass from his body, give him many stitches, and the bones in his right hand were completely crushed. He also has a lump on his head, but he will recover, and he will most likely be completely fine," The doctor paused and waited for a reaction, but the two girls in front of him continued to stare at him blankly. He awkwardly cleared his throat and continued to read his papers. "Daniel…he was sitting by the window of the car. There was a lot of glass we had to get out of him…and unfortunately, there was some found in his eyes. There is a high chance he might lose his eyesight. He also has a very serious concussion, which we are almost certain we have completely under control. Now Sandy…had Daniel not been holding her the way he was, we might have lost her. The way he was holding her prevented any spinal or neck damage, but she suffered a severe blow to the head. There's a lot of swelling happening, and we're doing the best we can to keep it down,"

"Is that it?" Rizzo snapped. _What about Kenickie?_

"Well there's more…I just didn't know if you wanted to hear it. I mean you've already been through so much…"

"Tell me!" Rizzo said, almost pouncing on him. Jan had to pull her back down into her seat.

"Well, the other boy sitting by the window – "

"Doody," Jan said anxiously.

"Yes…Doody…his neck was uh…snapped in a similar way to Polly's and he might have to undergo surgery if he doesn't wake up soon,"

"Ya mean he's gotta have the same surgery as Frenchy?" Jan said. "He's gonna die too?"

"Not necessarily," The doctor reassured her. "There are equal chances of survival and death. But it is a very dangerous surgery. Now, Roger…"

"What?" Jan said, now having to be held back by Rizzo.

"He has a very, very severe head injury…and I'm not going to lie…his situation is quite deadly. If he is not monitored very carefully…well…"

"Well he's being monitored right?" Jan said, on the edge of her seat.

"Of course,"

"Please take good care of him," Jan begged. "He saved my life,"

"Of course I will," The doctor reassured.

"What about Kenickie?" Rizzo said.

"Is that what you call him?"

"Yeah is that a problem?"

"Of course not…" he said unsteadily. "Now Kenickie…he was shoved back and crushed by the truck on impact. He is very…um…cut up, and bruised, and he needs many stitches. His head was also quite damaged, and he is paralyzed from the waist down. We are doing the best we can to keep him alive…but it's proving to be a very difficult task,"

Rizzo felt like she had been shot in the chest. "Is…is he in pain?"

"We're pretty sure he hasn't been awake…so most likely no,"

"Most likely?" Rizzo stood up. "Listen, you better tell me…is he hurtin'? Is he in any kind of pain at all?"

"I already told you what I know," the doctor said. "I'm sorry about all this, but that's all I can tell you right now. I will let you know as soon as anything changes,"

Rizzo wanted to scream. She wanted to kill that asshole. How can he just stay so calm collected while he reads off a list of the different ways all those kids were gonna die? Instead she took an enormously deep breath.

"Can…can I see him?"

"He isn't in the right condition for anyone to be seeing him right now…But you can see Dominic, Daniel, and Sandy if you'd like,"

Rizzo looked over at Jan who nodded.

* * *

_Sorry Frenchy fans! :( Wow I'm an awful person. Review?_


	5. Chapter 5

_Kinda a short chapter. Thanks for all your reivews! Keep them coming! Love you guys!_

* * *

Chapter 5

Rizzo sat by the window in Marty's hospital room. She stared outside blankly, not entirely sure what was going to happen next. It was almost noon, which meant people were going to be bugging her to eat something soon. She hoped that if she remained silent in the corner for long enough, everyone would just forget about her. Marty and Jan were sitting just inches away from her on Marty's bed, not saying a word. There was nothing to be said. Neither of them knew what was going to happen. Neither of them knew what to do. Frenchy was dead. What does that mean for them? What were they supposed to do?

"What do you mean I can't see him? He's my _son,_" a horribly familiar voice came sounding from the lobby. Rizzo's entire body stiffened up.

"Well I don't _care! _You let me see my son!"

Jan and Marty exchanged nervous glances. Rizzo remained motionless. They couldn't find her if she was here. They wouldn't know where to look. No one could make her move from her spot.

"Excuse me girls, it's time for me to give your friend her medicine. You can come back in a couple of minutes,"

_Except that._

Jan nodded and began to pull Rizzo out the door. She couldn't face them. They would blame her. They would know everything.

They kept walking until they were back in the waiting room. Rizzo sucked in her breath and tried to hide her face as she rushed past the couple standing there. _Maybe they won't notice me if I…_

"_You!_"

_Too late._

Rizzo stopped dead in her tracks and whirled around.

"What did you do to my son?"

There they were. Kenickie's parents.

"Honey please," his mother tried to calm her husband. "It isn't her fault – "

"You bet it is!" he roared. "I know for a fact she was drivin' that car! Look at me Betty! Look me in the eye and tell me you weren't the one drivin' that car!"

Rizzo simply stared down at the floor in shame.

"You leave that poor girl alone!" she yelled at him.

"Don't you tell me what to do! My son is half dead because this bitch can't see straight – "

He stopped shouting abruptly as Rizzo's fist came hard across his jaw.

"Rizzo!" Jan gasped.

He stood up and shoved Rizzo to the floor.

"_Stop it!_" his wife begged.

"Hey can we get some help over here?" Jan watched nervously as a doctor called hospital security over. They ran over and grabbed him from behind and escorted him out of the building, cursing at the top of his lungs.

"You ok, miss?" a security guard bent down and tried to help Rizzo up.

"I'm fine," she jerked away from his touch.

"She's ok, I've got her," Jan interrupted before Rizzo hit someone else. The security guards inched away from the girl lying on the floor.

"Betty?" Kenickie's mother knelt down beside Rizzo. "I'm so sorry…"

Rizzo didn't respond to her voice at all. She simply kept staring ahead of her, her entire body rigid.

"Rizzo?" she moved her position so that Rizzo was forced to look at her. "I know it wasn't your fault…I'm so sorry…"

Rizzo looked closely at her arms. There were bruises all over her. Rizzo then made the connection between her husband's temper and the bruises.

"Rizzo?"

"Yeah it is," Rizzo said through clenched teeth. "It is my fault. All of this,"

"No sweetheart," she tried to put her arms around Rizzo, but Rizzo jerked away from her touch.

"Don't you try and make me feel better," Rizzo said standing up abruptly. "I don't need you…or you!" Rizzo threw a look at Jan. "Any of you!" she stormed off and out the hospital doors. It wasn't long before Kenickie's mother had rushed away towards the bathroom.

"Rizzo!" Jan ran after her as fast as she could. "Come back!"

She caught up with her in the middle of the parking lot. She grabbed her wrist and Rizzo wrenched away.

"Leave me alone," she spat.

"But Rizzo – " Jan advanced closer to her.

"I said leave me alone!" Rizzo lost all control and shoved Jan onto the concrete. Jan gasped as she hit the hard ground, and she looked up at Rizzo with terrified eyes.

"I-I-I…" Rizzo looked down at Jan with horror. "No…I didn't…I…I…" she slapped her hands over her face and let the tears fall.

"It's alright Rizzo," Jan gathered Rizzo into her arms. Together they walked slowly back to the hospital.


	6. Chapter 6

_Please review!_

* * *

Chapter 6

It was nearly nine o'clock at night and Rizzo and Jan had spent most of their day in silence in Marty's hospital room. Jan's mother appeared in the doorway.

"Jan," she whispered, afraid of breaking the silence. "Your father and I think it would be best if you went home, and slept in your own bed for the night. If you got a good night sleep, you would feel a lot better,"

Jan nodded, knowing truthfully that she would never fall asleep.

"Rizzo, you're welcome to stay with us," Jan's mother added, looking straight at Rizzo.

Rizzo looked from Jan's mother back to the ground repeatedly, until Jan put a hand on her shoulder. "C'mon Rizz,"

If Rizzo had the energy to put up a fight, she would have argued that if anything changed, she would want to be there when they woke up. But she had neither the patience nor the energy to do so. And she still hadn't heard from her own parents. Where else was she supposed to go?

So she got into Jan's car and let her father drive her away from the hospital, away from the mess she made.

Rizzo sat stiffly in the car, cringing every time her dad hit the brakes. Her fingers were digging into the seat she was sitting on, her knuckles were white. She felt like she was going to vomit. When the car finally stopped in front of Jan's house, Rizzo opened the door and ran to the porch. She swallowed and breathed deeply. It was ok…nothing happened…

"You ok Rizzo?" Jan asked catching up with her.

"Huh?" Rizzo looked up at her. "Yeah…I'm fine…"

Jan's father unlocked the front door and let the two girls step inside. Jan led Rizzo up the stairs and into her bedroom.

"Why don't ya go take a shower, and I'll find some clean clothes for ya," Jan suggested.

"Sure," Rizzo was directed to the bathroom down the hall where she was given a towel and a cloth. When Jan had shut the door behind her, Rizzo turned the water on and watched the steam condensing into little droplets on the curtains. She was alone. Something she hadn't been in a while. And she was afraid of what might happen while she was alone. Where her thoughts might wander to, what she might do, what she might feel…

She undressed herself and watched the dirty, ripped and bloody clothes fall to the tiled floor. She noticed something she hadn't before. Her name, Rizzo, written on the front of her jacket was smeared with blood. She stared at it for a while, debating whether it meant something or not.

She snapped out of her inward debate and stepped into the shower. The hot water rained down on her, and it was the most soothing thing she had felt in days, but it still wasn't soothing enough. The water washed away the dirt and blood, but it failed to wash away the bruises, the scars, pain, the guilt, the sorrow. The scars and bruises would heal over time, but the pain and guilt and sorrow was etched into her so far down and so deeply. No one could reach far enough to ease her pain.

All the scrubbing she did in attempt to make herself feel cleaner was pointless. All she was doing was lying to herself. Making herself look fresh on the outside was only better hiding the dirt on the inside.

* * *

Jan looked through her drawers trying to find something of hers that would fit Rizzo. Everything she had was too big. As she searched, she thought of the events of the last few days. And still she couldn't find anything. She was in a car crash. Still nothing. Roger could die. Nothing. Frenchy was _dead._ Nothing, nothing. nothing!

_Dead._

_Nothing._

_Dead._

_Dead._

Jan screamed and chucked the shirt she was holding onto the floor. She collapsed on the ground in a heap of frustration and sadness.

"Jan!" her mother came running into her room. "Are you alright sweety?"

"No mama! I ain't alright!" she wailed. "Frenchy's dead mama! Everyone else could die! And Rizzo is gonna lose her mind! And so am I!"

"Baby come here," her mother held her daughter close to her. "I know it's horrible…I'm so sorry,"

"Why did this have to happen?" Jan cried.

"Sometimes things just happen, and you don't know why. There's a reason for everything – "

"There's no reason that Frenchy had to die!" she shouted angrily. "She was my best friend!"

"I know baby. Just calm down," her mother whispered softly. "It seems horrible now, but things are going to get better. I promise,"

Jan nodded, although she had a hard time believing her. Although she _had_ said the same thing to Rizzo before…and when did her mother ever steer her wrong?

"I-I-I know…but it's just so hard to believe right now,"

"I know baby," she kissed her forehead. "I'm here ok? And tell Rizzo that I'm here for her too?"

"I will," Jan sniffled. "I can't find anything for her to wear. I'm too fat,"

"Stop that," her mother hit her gently. "I'll find something ok? You sit down and relax,"

Jan nodded and sat down on her bed, holding her aching head. "Here, this should be fine," she held up a nightgown that had been too small on Jan for a while. Jan nodded. Suddenly Rizzo came walking slowly through the door with her towel wrapped tightly around her. She looked shiftily from Jan to her mother.

"Oh I'm sorry…" Jan's mother stuttered. "Here, I found something for you to wear. I'll leave you two alone now," she awkwardly walked past Rizzo and left the room.

"I'm gonna get in the shower now Rizzo," Jan said, trying to look cheerier now that she was back. "If you're hungry, you can ask my mom to make ya something,"

"Uh-huh," Rizzo acknowledged her. Jan nodded and walked down the hallway to the bathroom.

The last thing Rizzo wanted was something to eat. She didn't even think she'd be able to keep down water if she tried. She put on the nightgown, which was only slightly too big, and she simply laid flat on the floor staring at the ceiling. She wanted to…she wanted…she didn't know what she wanted to do. She wanted to do _something. _She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. But she had lost all her energy to do so.

"Rizzo?" the sound of Jan's mother's voice entered the room. "I brought you some tea,"

Rizzo sat up rather quickly, her head spun and her vision was blurred momentarily. "Thanks," she murmured.

She set the cup of tea on the nightstand. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine,"

"Are you sure?" Jan's mother sat down next to her. "I'm here if you need me. I know your parents aren't the greatest…so if you ever need a mother…I'm here,"

"Thanks," Rizzo said, not changing expressions. "But I'm fine,"

"I know you say that, and that's what you want to believe, but no matter how many times you tell yourself that, it won't change anything. This all still happened, and you're still human, and you still have feelings,"

"Look I know what I'm doing. I'm fine," Rizzo said. Then she realized: she thought she knew what she was doing when she was driving…_No. _Only Marty and Jan had ever seen her cry, and that was it. No one else would ever see that Rizzo. That Rizzo was weak and lame. The Rizzo everyone else saw was strong, independent, and confident. She didn't need anyone.

But was all of that true?

Was she really as strong and confident as she made herself look? Could she really survive without anybody?

No.

That was it then. This was all a test. She was falling apart without everyone, so God was proving her wrong. She did need everyone. Maybe if she just admitted that, everything would turn out ok.

_Is that what ya want?_ _Ya just wanted to prove me wrong? Frenchy's dead because I didn't admit it soon enough? What a sick joke…_

Just as Jan's mom got up and walked out of the room, Rizzo stopped her. "Wait," she called from the floor. "I…I do need you. I need everyone. I do! I can't go on like this! I need everyone! I ain't as strong as everyone thinks I am! I…I…I'm a coward. A scared little girl,"

Jan's mother sadly watched the tears roll down Rizzo's face. "Is that what ya want?" she screamed at the ceiling. "Are ya done now? Can ya stop this now? I said it! I'm weak! I'm scared! _I need everyone!_ What more do ya want?" her tears had now turned into sobbing, and Jan's mother rushed forward and embraced her. And Rizzo didn't jerk away, or resist her touch. She leaned into the embrace, and she even put her arms around her too. And for a moment, Rizzo did feel like a little girl, crying like she used to when her daddy would hit mommy, and mommy would insist it was an accident and that she was fine, and she would just hug her. She hadn't been held like this in so long, and it felt good.

Could it be that her whole life was an act? Was the mask of toughness she put on every day just making up for all the times she cried as a child? All those men she was with, was it all just a desperate search to find a secure male figure in her life? All the people she pushed away, was she just afraid of being betrayed, just like her mother had betrayed her?

In the middle of that loving embrace, Rizzo had figured out her entire life. And that was when she had hope. Everything was going to be ok. She had a feeling in the pit of her empty body that things were going to get better.

After many minutes, she calmed down and stopped crying, but didn't release her grip on Jan's mother.

"Thank you," was all that she could manage to say. But somehow, she knew that was enough.

"You're very welcome," she said, sitting Rizzo down on Jan's bed. "Now you drink that tea, it's good for you,"

Rizzo nodded, and her lips curled slightly upward into a tiny smile. She gripped the warm mug in her hands and took a small sip, still fearful that anything would upset her stomach.


	7. Chapter 7

_Please review! Hope I didn't lose any followers due to the length between updates!_

* * *

Chapter 7

Soon, Jan came back into the room with her nightclothes on. Her eyes were red and puffy. She sat down on her bed next to Rizzo. Rizzo put the tea back on the nightstand. As much as she wanted to drink it, she would never be able to hold it inside of her.

Jan sat there, wondering. She wasn't wondering about anything specific, she was just wondering.

Everything was just a big question: _What do they do now?_

"So," Jan said shakily. "What now?"

"I don't know," Rizzo said flatly. "There really is nothing _to _do,"

That was true. "But we gotta do something…don't we?"

"Not really," Rizzo said. "We could just sit here and do nothing,"

That was also true. "But if I did that…I would just feel so…helpless…and stupid,"

"Hey, it ain't our fault if there's nothing we could do," Rizzo said. "If there was something we should really be doing, we would be doing it by now,"

Also true. "I guess your right," Jan said, lying down with a flop. Rizzo lay down next to her. "What're we gonna do?"

"I thought we said we were gonna do nothing?"

"No, I mean, tomorrow. And they day after that," Jan said.

"What do ya mean?"

"I mean, are we just gonna keep doing nothing? How long is this all gonna last? We can't just keep doing nothing until it's over,"

"I guess you're right," Rizzo said. "But…I just can't explain it. There's nothing I wanna do right now. Everything is too much effort. Too much pain. Too many reminders. I feel like if I tried doing something, it wouldn't be fair to everyone else who's lying in the hospital unconscious. Which is why I think I should just do exactly what they're doing. Nothing,"

Jan sat up and stared at Rizzo. That was the first time Jan had heard Rizzo say what she was feeling like that. Rizzo looked up at her questioningly.

"You ok Rizz?"

"Yeah I'm fine…" her voice trailed off. "Well…"

"What?"

Rizzo took a deep breath. This whole letting people in thing was going to take some getting used to. "No. I'm not. But there's nothing you can do about it,"

Jan's body stiffened up. Rizzo had never done anything like this before, so she wasn't sure what she should do. And anyway, she was right. There was nothing she could do about it.

"Ya know…" Jan began nervously. "It's ok…to not be ok. You don't have to be some super strong girl all the time. You're not Superwoman,"

"I know," Rizzo muttered. "I always knew. I thought that if I tried to look like some tough chick, and convinced everyone else that I was that tough, that I would believe it myself. But after some thinking, I realized, even after all that, I still don't believe it. I'm still the same scared little girl I was. Nothing changed. The only thing that changed was the need to seem strong. I ain't strong Jan. I never was. I never will be. This…all this…has…broken me beyond repair. I'll never really be the same. When Frenchy…when she…when she didn't make it…the feeling I had was just…I…I can't even…" she stopped to breath very deeply. "After that I knew it would never be the same. If everyone had made it, things would have been different. But she's gone now. And every one of them that leaves will be another piece of me gone. And if that happens…I don't know what to do. It only took one of them for me to lose my 'tough shell'. What's gonna happen if more of them are gone? What's gonna happen if Kenickie…" Rizzo couldn't finish her sentence. Just thinking about it hurt her in more ways than imaginable.

Jan was dumbstruck. She didn't know what to say. She sat there dumbly and watched Rizzo fall apart in front of her.

"I've never talked to anyone like this before. All I ever did was push people away…if I kept this all bottled up…I'd lose my mind…"

"Rizzo…" Jan lay down next to her and wrapped her arms around her. She let her tears fall, and she let Rizzo's tears fall.

* * *

Rizzo opened her eyes to find Jan lying next to her. It took her a couple of minutes to remember where she was and how she had got there. Then she remembered everything she had let escape her mouth yesterday. She felt ashamed of herself for letting herself go like that. No one had seen inside of Rizzo's mind. No one…except Jan. Once she had started, she hadn't been able to stop. But was that really such a bad thing?

The call of nature interrupted her thoughts, and she groggily made her way through the hallway to the bathroom. On her way back, she spotted Jan's mother walking in through the front door with the newspaper in her hand. Rizzo stood there, wanting to say something, but she was unsure of what to say.

Jan's mother looked up and saw that Rizzo was looking at her. "Oh, good morning," she said sweetly. "Did you sleep well?"

Rizzo nodded, and for once, it wasn't a lie. Her sleep hadn't consisted of any nightmares, or any other kind of dream for that matter. "Did…is…is there any news?"

"Not as far as I know," she said sighing. "The hospital hasn't called,"

Rizzo's heart sunk. "Thanks," she continued her walk back to Jan's room.

"No news, huh?" a now awake Jan asked as Rizzo came back in.

"Nope," Rizzo plopped herself down on the floor. Jan sighed.

"We're going back to see Marty today, right?" Jan asked.

"Of course," Rizzo said.

They dug through Jan's clothes until they found something that would fit Rizzo and they made their way downstairs.

"We wanna go back to the hospital mom," Jan said.

"I know, but you haven't eaten yet,"

Jan rolled her eyes slightly. "Ok, but we wanna go now. We'll eat at the hospital cafeteria ok?"

"You're sure?"

"Positive,"

"Alright then," Jan's mother stood up. "Let's go,"

The three of them went outside and got into the car. Again for the entire ride, Rizzo was stiff, silent, and pale as a ghost. When they reached the hospital she was the first one out of the car. She breathed deeply and slowly in an attempt to keep herself from screaming.

"I'm fine," she assured Jan when she gave her a concerned look.

They walked into the hospital and asked the front desk for any news. Still nothing. They got permission to see Marty and made their way to her room.

"Hey Marty," Jan said as they walked in.

"Hi guys," Marty said sadly. Her eyes were also red and puffy.

Jan saw the sadness in Marty's eyes and tried hard not to think about it. The last thing she wanted was to start crying again. The three of them sat in silence for most of the day. When Rizzo had left to use the bathroom, Marty looked at Jan.

"Is she ok? Really?" she asked. "Last time she was in here…before…" Jan nodded so she wouldn't have to say it. "She ran out screaming. Is she ok?"

"As much as I wanna say yes…she's not. Last night she just kept talkin'…I've never heard Rizzo talk that much…or say the things she said. I asked her if she was ok, and instead of her saying she was fine, she said no. And then she kept talking about how she isn't really strong…how she never was…that this all broke her…and then she started talking about Kenickie…she can't even say his name without cryin'," Jan inhaled deeply, recalling the different side of Rizzo she had seen last night.

"Oh my God…" Marty said worriedly. "What're we gonna do? They're havin' some real trouble keepin' Kenickie alive…what're we gonna _do? _She's gonna lose it…I'm gonna lose it…"

Jan wrapped her arms around her friend. "We just gotta keep hoping for the best,"

Rizzo came back inside and sat back down on the bed. The way they were looking at her…it was if she had missed something…

"Oh you guys, I forgot to tell ya," Marty said cheerily. "I'm gettin' outta here tomorrow. I'm gonna need crutches for weeks, but at least I'll be able to move,"

"That's great Marty!" Jan said. "You'll be goin' home, I guess?"

"Yeah. What I need is a bath," Marty said that sighed exasperatedly. "But I can't get this thing wet," she said, gesturing to the cast on her leg.

Jan chuckled softly.

It was mid-afternoon when Rizzo and Jan decided to go and see Sonny, Danny, and Sandy. They entered Sonny's room to see him still lying in the same position as he was yesterday.

"The swelling is going way down," the doctor who escorted them there said happily. "And his stitches are healing nicely. He is expected to wake up any time within the next two days," With that he left the room to give them some privacy. They simply moved closer and stared at him. Rizzo didn't see the point in this. He couldn't say anything. They couldn't say anything to him. Still, it was a comfort to know that he was here, and that he was still breathing.

The doctor then escorted them to Danny's room. "Now, Danny is recovering much slower, as his injuries were much more severe. But still, he is recovering. We won't know much about his eyesight until he does wake up,"

As they walked to Sandy's room, the doctor explained her recovery. "Sandy is doing much worse than the two boys, but she is doing better than expected. We are still unsure when she'll wake up…"

"If she wakes up at all," Rizzo spat bitterly.

Jan gasped in horror.

"Uh…well yes…but we're very positive about her situation…" he cleared his throat. "She's right in here,"

When the doctor had shut the door and walked away from the door, Jan turned to Rizzo, horrified.

"God, Rizzo, what're ya tryin' to do?" she scolded. "They're doin' the best they can to help her!"

"Yeah I know…" Rizzo said. "But they just don't know anything!"

"If they knew more, they would tell us!" Jan said. "Now please…don't ever say anything like that again…It's just…it's too awful to think about,"

Rizzo nodded, guilt burning inside her. "Yeah, sorry,"


	8. Chapter 8

_You guys are fabulous! Keep the reviews coming! This is probably the most popular story I've written on here! Love you guys!_

* * *

The next day when Marty was able to get out of bed, Jan and Rizzo were already there. The three of them were going to see Danny, Sandy and Sonny. There was still no news that they were revealing about the others, which was making Rizzo overheat with anger.

The doctor led the way to Sonny's room, and he said the same thing he had said the day before.

"So he's gonna wake up soon?" Marty said anxiously.

"That's right," the doctor smiled.

The three girls walked inside. Marty was slightly uneasy seeing him laying there like that without moving…but then she thought about him waking up, and it put her mind at ease. She put her crutches against the wall and hobbled to a chair and sat down by him.

"Sonny?" she said nervously. "Ya gotta wake up now. C'mon Sonny,"

"He's gotta do it on his own Marty," Jan said.

"I wanna be here when he wakes up," Marty insisted. "So he's gonna wake up now. I know it,"

"Marty – "

"C'mon Sonny," she continued. "Wake up. It's me, Marty,"

Suddenly, his fingers twitched.

"Did ya see that?" Marty beamed. "Hand moved!"

Sonny started groaning.

"That's right, Son, wake up," Marty took hold of his undamaged hand.

Sonny's eyes fluttered open slowly. "W…wha…"

"See I told ya!" Marty said. "Jan go get the doctor!"

"Wh…where am I…" he looked around. "What's goin' on?"

"You're in the hospital," Marty assured him.

"What? What the hell happened?" he tried to sit up.

"Calm down!" Marty laid him back down. "There was…an accident,"

Sonny closed his eyes, as if trying to remember. "Oh…yeah…" he stole a quick glance at Rizzo, who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, staring blankly ahead of her. "How long I been out for?"

"Almost three days," Marty said. "But it's ok, 'cause you're awake now,"

"My head friggen hurts…" he muttered, holding his head.

"You've suffered a mild concussion," the doctor said as he walked in with Jan. "Nothing some painkillers can't fix,"

"What about my hand?" Sonny said, noticing the cast on his hand.

"The bones were crushed…" The doctor began. "But we've managed to save them all. In a month or two, you should be good as new,"

"Geez three days…" Sonny said. "What'd I miss? Where's everybody else?"

Jan, Rizzo, and Marty all looked at each other.

"What?"

"Some of them weren't as lucky as us, Sonny," Marty said, tightening her grip on his hand.

"Oh…" he should have figured that. "But…everyone's gonna be ok right? I mean, what coulda happened?"

Jan sniffled and Rizzo turned a frightening shade of white. Marty started to shake.

"What's wrong?" Sonny said. "Marty, you're shakin'!"

"Sonny…" Marty began. "Frenchy…Frenchy's dead,"

Sonny stared at her for a moment in disbelief. "You guys…you're kiddin' right? She ain't really…"

Marty's eyes filled up with tears and she began to silently sob. Sonny wrapped his un-bandaged arm around her and held her as she cried. Jan turned into Rizzo to cry, and Rizzo stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to do, and then she awkwardly wrapped her arms around her and rested her head on top of hers.

* * *

The three girls had stayed in Sonny's room until the doctors had insisted they leave, and then they went and saw Danny and Sandy. They were standing in Sandy's room, when the woman from the front desk came inside.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's a woman outside who is looking for a Betty Rizzo, and I was told she was in here,"

"Uh, I'm Betty Rizzo," Rizzo said. "Who's looking for me?"

"She says she's your mother,"

All color drained from Rizzo's face. _My mother? What the hell is she doing here?_

"Uh…I…." Rizzo started shaking.

"Rizzo are ya ok?" Jan said worriedly.

"Yeah…" she said trying to regain her composure. "Let's go," she said to the woman.

"Ya want us to come with ya Rizz?" Jan asked.

"No," Rizzo said flatly, and with that she was gone. The woman led her back towards the lobby, and sure enough, there was her mother standing by the desk.

"Betty!" she called. She began to run towards Rizzo, who simply kept walking at normal pace. Her mother threw her arms around her, and Rizzo reluctantly hugged her back. "Betty…I'm so glad you're alright…I was worried sick…"

"Yeah I'm fine," Rizzo said, wanting more than anything to just get away from her.

Her mother released her embrace on her to look at her face. "Are you sure? You look so pale…your eyes are bloodshot…have you been eating – "

"I said I'm fine," she snapped. "If you were so worried, where were you for the past three days?"

Her mother looked at her, seeming hurt for a moment. "When the hospital called, your father went to see who it was and he just hung up. When I asked him who it was, he just said…" she inhaled deeply as if it would cause her pain to say it.

"What?" Rizzo asked, aggravated this was taking so long to explain.

"His exact words were…Betty fucked up again," she looked at Rizzo closely to see what her reaction would be. Rizzo really could care less. She had gotten remarks like that from her father every day of her life. When Rizzo didn't say anything, her mother continued. "I asked him what you did, and he wouldn't answer me. I tried to get it out of him, but he started yelling…so I dropped it. I figured that it couldn't be that bad. Later on that night the phone rang again, and he didn't even pick it up,"

"Ok, so what are ya doin' here?"

"Well, when you hadn't come home for three days, and after what your father said, I thought something had happened to you. I called Polly's mom…" Rizzo stiffened up and her mother eyed her worriedly. "She told me what happened…and she said I would find you here,"

"Well here I am," Rizzo said bitterly.

"Betty…I am so sorry that this all happened…And Polly…that poor girl…"

Rizzo simply stared at the ground.

"You can't blame yourself," her mother said, lifting Rizzo's chin so they could look at each other. "It isn't your fault,"

"How come all of a sudden you care?" Rizzo said suddenly.

"What?"

"For years I've been waiting for ya to care about me…and now as soon as I screw up, you care?"

"Betty, I'm your mother! I wanted to know if you were alive!" she said defensively.

"Ya never wanted to know how I was all those times dad yelled at me! All the times he threatened me! All the times he threw something! You were too scared. You stood back and watched while your husband treated your own daughter like shit. And now…_now_ you decide to care?"

"Betty please…you don't understand…" her mother was close to tears.

"I don't have to understand," Rizzo seethed. "I don't want to understand. What I want is for you to leave me alone!"

"But – "

"I was better off before ya got here!" Rizzo was shouting now. "Leave me alone!"

"Is everything alright over here?" a security guard asked Rizzo warningly.

"Yeah, we're fine," Rizzo said taking a step back from her mother. "She was just leaving,"

"Yeah…" her mother quickly wiped her eyes and rushed away from her daughter and out the hospital doors.


	9. Chapter 9

_Hello! I am so so so so so so so very sorry for the very long wait! My life has literally been a nightmare for the past two months and I haven't had the time or energy to upload anything. I really hope I didn't lose any followers! I apologize a million times! Please review to let me know you're still reading! A new chapter is coming either tomorrow or sometime this weekend! Sorry again!_

* * *

When Rizzo returned to Sandy's room, Marty and Jan turned to look at her.

"What did your mom say Rizzo?" Jan asked.

"What does she always say?" Rizzo said, still heated about the whole thing.

"Sorry," Jan said, feeling bad bringing it up.

"It's fine," Rizzo brushed it off.

They went to visit Danny and the hours dragged on, until it was nearly eight o'clock. Marty's parents took her home, and Jan's parents took Jan and Rizzo home. In the car, Rizzo was the same stiff pale figure she had come to become in the car.

"You girls did eat, right?" Jan's mother asked. Jan inhaled deeply, remembering that she had promised they would eat in the cafeteria. Neither of them had much of an appetite though.

"Uh yeah," Jan lied, not wanting to upset her mother. "Around noon we got some sandwiches,"

"That's all?"

"Yeah,"

"Then I'll cook a nice hot meal when we get home," she smiled widely at the two of them.

"Thanks mom," Jan forced a smile.

"Are you alright, Rizzo?" Jan's mother asked.

"I-I-I-I'm f-fine," Rizzo's teeth chattered. Jan's mother looked at Jan questioningly and Jan shook her head quickly. She nodded and faced front and they sat in silence the rest of the ride home.

When they arrived Rizzo once again breathed deeply for a minute then relaxed. Jan led her up to her room while her mother cooked something that they most likely wouldn't eat anyway.

The phone rang from downstairs, and then Jan's mother was coming up the stairs.

"Jan?" she said. "Polly's…Polly's wake is tomorrow,"

Rizzo's heart leaped into her throat and she sucked in her breath. She stared blankly ahead of her, not able to breathe. Jan nodded, silent tears brimming her eyes.

How was she going to face all those people that knew and loved Frenchy…how was she going to look at them knowing that she was the reason they were there? How was she going to look at them knowing she had killed the girl they were all there to see?

The pain was everywhere. It was like she could reach out and touch it. She couldn't breathe. There was no air. She couldn't breathe. Everything was closing in on her. She could feel her entire body shaking.

"Rizzo?" Jan quickly sat down next to her. "You ok?"

Rizzo tried to breathe and calm down, but there was no air. Then the tears fell and everything exploded. She couldn't contain herself anymore. She began to make pathetic noises, that even she herself had not heard herself make. Jan just sat there and held her.

* * *

Jan, Rizzo and Marty sat silently in the funeral home. Rizzo stared straight ahead, trying the best she could not to look at anyone else around her. She sat through the entire wake with a blank expression on her face. When it was over, everyone walked up to the open casket to say their goodbyes, and Rizzo simply stayed in her seat. Nobody else could hear what she had to say.

She was the last one still in the room, along with Frenchy's parents. Rizzo got up, and nervously made her way toward them. They stood there staring at each other for a moment, then Rizzo inhaled deeply.

"Hey," Rizzo said hoarsely. She cleared her throat and continued. "I…know what you're thinking. And it's ok. But please…ya gotta believe me when I say this…I am so sorry…I never meant for anything like this to happen. I loved your daughter. She was like a sister. And I'll never forgive myself for letting this happen. But I am so…so sorry…"

Rizzo stood there and cried. Then, something remarkable happened. Frenchy's mom embraced Rizzo, and then Frenchy's dad did too. The three of them stood there in tears for a while, and when they released each other, Frenchy's mom nodded.

"Thank you," Rizzo managed to get out.

Her parents left the room, leaving Rizzo alone with the casket. She made her way there and knelt beside it.

"Hey French," Rizzo sniffled. "I'm gonna miss you. I…I'm so sorry…I'm sorry…" she began sobbing.

They all stood around the large whole in the ground. They watched the coffin, now closing in Frenchy forever, get lowered into the ground.

_I should be in there…that should be me…_

Rizzo was screaming inside her head.

_Look at all these miserable people. There wouldn't be half that many people that would care if it was me._

With their heads hung, Jan and Rizzo made their way back to Jan's car. Neither of them said a word the whole ride home. When they reached Jan's house, Rizzo had to rush inside to the bathroom. She had felt nauseas all day, and riding in a car made it worse.

"You ok Rizzo?" Jan asked worriedly, knocking on the bathroom door.

"Y-y-yeah…" she trembled. "I-I-I just need a shower,"

"Alright," Jan's footsteps faded away, and Rizzo turned on the water to the shower.


	10. Chapter 10

_Hey! Two chapters in one day! Making up for the shortness of the last chapter! More coming tomorrow or this weekend! Thank you so much for sticking with me! Please review!_

* * *

Rizzo, Jan and Marty followed the same routine every day, and when Sonny was able to be released, the first thing he did was visit Frenchy in the cemetery with the three of them.

"Sorry I couldn't make it French," he said, placing flowers on her grave. "Rest easy," he sniffled and wiped his nose as he turned away and walked back towards the three girls.

Nothing changed after Sonny was released, except that he was added to their group of visitors. Every day was the same. They would wake up, get reminded by Jan's mother to eat, sit with Sandy, sit with Danny, then get back in the car. Rizzo would get nauseous and shaky, someone would ask her if she was ok, she would brush it off and walk inside. Jan's mother would cook them dinner, they would push it around after one or two bites, then they would fall asleep and do it all over again.

Rizzo's dreams mostly consisted of horrible images. She would see Frenchy's body all the time…Kenickie's arm…she would wake up panting and sweating. She often dreamt about the doctor coming to her and telling her that Kenickie was dead. Most mornings she would wake up crying. She was grateful that Jan was a light sleeper.

Rizzo was beginning to feel like a machine, repeating the same thing over and over again. It was a week after Frenchy's funeral, and there still wasn't any news on anybody. Rizzo and Jan were getting into bed on that seventh day, when the phone rang. After a moment, Jan's mother was rushing up the stairs.

"Jan! Rizzo!" she panted. "Danny's awake!"

"He is?" Jan sprang up out of bed.

"Yes! I'll take you to see him right now!"

"C'mon Rizz!" Jan grabbed Rizzo by the hand, and they hurried down the stairs and into the car, still in their pajamas. When they arrived at the hospital, they bolted in the lobby and to the front desk.

"Danny Zuko?" Jan panted.

"Right this way," the lady smiled. They walked impatiently behind her, and when they finally reached the room, they burst through the door. Danny's parents were standing at his bedside talking to him.

"Who's there?" Danny asked.

"It's me, Jan! And Rizzo!"

Danny's parents stepped to the side so that the girls could see him. There were bandages on his eyes.

"Hey you guys!" Danny said excitedly.

"Are ya gonna be able to see?" Jan asked nervously.

"I don't know," Danny said. "We'll know when they take these bandages off,"

"Which we are going to do right now," the doctor in the room announced. Danny's mother grabbed Danny's hand. Jan grabbed Rizzo's hand, and they squeezed each other's hands. The doctor cut the fabric and began to unwrap the bandage. When it was off, Danny opened his eyes slowly.

"I…I can see!" he smiled.

Danny's mother smiled widely and embraced her son. Just then Sonny and Marty burst into the room.

"Hey Sonny! Marty!"

"You can see!" Marty exclaimed. They all took their turn in hugging Danny, then hugging each other. Danny's parents left to give them all some privacy. Danny's face suddenly got really serious.

"Alright, what's goin' on with the rest of us?" Danny said. "I asked my old lady and she wouldn't tell me nothin',"

Rizzo turned white again, and Jan put her arm around her.

"Well, they ain't tellin' us nothin' about anybody," Sonny said. "All we know is that we're all ok,"

"But Frenchy…" Marty's lip trembled. Sonny put his arms around her.

"Nothin' bad happened to her…right?" Danny's soaring spirits were shot down. "She ain't…"

Sonny nodded. Danny was dumbstruck. His heart stopped. Frenchy…little Polly…

"W…what happened?"

"She had to have surgery…" Jan began. "She didn't make it,"

Danny shook his head in disbelief. "God…"

Suddenly the door burst open. "Sorry if this is a bad time, but your friend…um…Doody…we've had to perform emergency surgery on him,"

"And?" Jan asked anxiously.

"Well he's made it," the doctor said.

"Thank God," Marty sighed.

"But it could be a few days before he wakes up," the doctor said.

"At least he's gonna wake up," Sonny said. The doctor smiled and left.

"What's he gonna do when he wakes up?" Rizzo spoke for the first time since their arrival at the hospital.

"What do ya mean?" Danny asked.

"Frenchy's dead," her voice cracked. "Frenchy was…his girl. And I killed her,"

"Rizzo…" Jan embraced her. "It ain't your fault,"

"That don't matter!" Rizzo snapped, wiggling out of Jan's embrace. "Either way, he's gonna wake up, and his girl…the girl he _loves _is gonna be dead!"

Marty gasped and clamped her hand over her mouth. Jan's eyes widened, and she began to think…what would happen if that happened to her? What if she woke up and Roger was dead?

"That poor kid…" Sonny shook his head.

There was a long silence, and Danny's mind suddenly fell on his girl, Sandy. "Hey, you guys know anything about Sandy?"

"She's still unconscious," Jan said, pushing her feelings to the back of her mind. "But as soon as ya get out of bed you can see her,"

"What happened to her?" Danny said anxiously.

"Well, you saved her from anything really bad," Jan said.

"I…I did?" Danny was in awe.

"Yeah," Jan said. "But, she got it real bad on her head. They have no idea when she'll wake up,"

"Oh," Danny's heart sank.

"I'm sure she'll be ok though," Jan said quickly.

"Yeah," Danny said, not really listening. This was a lot to handle in a couple of minutes. Frenchy was dead. There was no news on the rest of his friends, and Sandy was unconscious, and not expected to wake up any time soon.

"You ok Danny?" Marty asked.

"Yeah it's just…" he shook his head, trying to clear his jumbling thoughts. "This is a lot to handle,"

"I know," Jan said. "It's all gonna turn out right though,"

_Ya said that before. Then Frenchy died._

Rizzo was screaming in her head again.

"So…what do we do now?" Danny asked.

"What we've been doing," Sonny replied.

"What?"

"Nothin',"

Danny nodded silently and laid down. Rizzo shook her head. "I'm tired of doin' nothin',"

"Rizzo? Where you going?" Jan asked as Rizzo stormed out the door. "Rizzo?"

Rizzo walked up to the front desk and slammed her hands down on the counter. "Listen, I'm gettin' real tired of having no news. You better tell me what's going on,"

"I'm sorry Miss, who are you here to see?"

"I'm the crazy girl who killed her friends in a car crash. Figure it out," Rizzo spat.

"Oh um…" the woman suddenly got very uncomfortable. "I'll get the doctor working that case,"

Jan came running into the lobby. "Rizzo, what're ya doing?"

"I'm getting answers,"

When the woman returned with the doctor, Rizzo had to restrain herself from jumping on him. She took a deep breath and tried to sound as calm as possible.

"Look. I'm tired of not knowing what's going on. It's been almost two weeks since this happened, you've gotta have something. You haven't told us anything about Roger or…or Kenickie. You don't understand what this is like. I have nightmares every night. I'm torturing myself. Do you understand the guilt I feel? It _burns. _All I wanna know is if there's any chance they're gonna be ok. I…I love Kenickie. Alright? I just wanna know if he's gonna be alright," a silent tear rolled down her cheek.

The doctor's face softened. "I'm really sorry about all this," he said placing a hand on her shoulder. "And I really do wish there was something I could tell you. But everything is the same as it was two weeks ago. There is always a chance that they'll live. But as each day goes by…those chances get smaller,"

"There's nothing you can do?" Rizzo jerked away from his touch, anger rising in her. "They're gettin' worse, and you can't do anything about it?"

"No, I'm afraid I can't," he said. "I will call if anything changes,"

"You-you – "

"Rizzo!" Jan held Rizzo back from pouncing on him. "They're doing the best they can,"

"But it ain't enough!" she cried. "The best ain't enough! They're still dying! He's still dying…"

"I…I…" Jan's voice broke, and she broke into tears along with Rizzo. "What'll we do?"

"I don't know…" Rizzo could hardly breathe again. "I don't know…"


	11. Chapter 11

_Happy Easter everyone! Here ya go! Please review!_

* * *

"Uh Rizzo," Jan's mother called upstairs. "The doctor says he wants to talk to you,"

Rizzo sucked in her breath and made her way down the stairs. She didn't like the way this sounded at all. Jan's mother gave her the phone.

"H-hello?"

"Is this Betty Rizzo?"

"Yeah,"

"Your friend…Kenickie…"

"Yeah? What about him?" her heart was practically leaping out of her chest.

"Last night he…he passed away,"

Everything stopped. Her body froze. Her entire body turned white. Her heart shattered into a million pieces and cut every part of her body. The phone fell out of her hand and crashed onto the floor.

"Rizzo?" Jan's mother rushed to her. "You look like you're going to faint! What happened?"

"No…"

"What?"

"No…no, no, no!" Rizzo was screaming as she pushed everyone away from her. She bolted out the front door and ran down the street. She just kept running. Somebody was bound to run her over sooner or later. She tripped and landed on the concrete floor and scraped her entire body. The scrapes were nothing compared to the wounds inside of her. She was dying from the inside out. She lay in the middle of the street, crying and screaming hysterically.

_I killed him._

_I never got to tell him that I loved him._

_I killed him._

_I **killed **him._

"Somebody please!" she shrieked. "Somebody please…just kill me! Somebody kill me!"

She felt as if she were drowning in her own tears. The noise of a car got closer and closer, and she shut her eyes, waiting for it to crush her.

She opened her eyes, and she was no longer in the middle of the street, but in Jan's bed. She sat straight up, gasping for air. She looked frantically around her, her heart and her head pounding. Tears were still pouring out of her eyes and each breath sounded like someone had been choking her. She searched her mind wildly for any recognition of anything…

_It was a dream. It was only a dream._

She dropped back down onto her pillow and let out a huge sigh.

_He's still alive. It was only a dream._

She lay there for a long time, trying to breathe again, trying to stop crying.

_It was so **real.**_

She had never had a dream that was so real before. It all felt like it had actually happened. She was still having a hard time believing it wasn't real. When the thought came to her that it might not have been a dream, her throat closed up again and she couldn't breathe. She told herself over and over that it was a dream. He was still alive, asleep in the hospital, waiting for the right time to wake up so that he could see her.

_It was a dream._

_It was a dream._

_It was only a dream._

After about fifteen minutes, her breathing was semi-normal again. She still had not stopped crying, for the pain had all been so real, and she had never been more terrified in her life. She began to realize that her throat and mouth were drier than a desert. She slowly made her way to the bathroom and quenched her thirst. She splashed water on her face and took deep breath after deep breath. She had finally gotten herself to stop crying, and she looked at her reflection in the mirror over the sink. She almost gasped at what she saw.

_Who is that?_

Her skin was as white as snow. There were black circles under eyes that were empty. Her cheek bones protruded from her face. Every part of her face was sharp. She stared at herself for a long time. It had been a while since she had really looked at herself. But was she really looking at herself?

Is this what she had become?

A skeleton?

An empty body?

But was that who she really was? On the inside was she any different?

No.

She was still empty. Nothing.

She looked down at her hands to see that she was shaking. She left the bathroom and went down the stairs, grasping the railing, fearing that her shaking legs would cause her to tumble down. She wandered into the kitchen and searched the cabinets. She needed something to make her feel something again. Something.

She opened a door and found exactly what she was looking for.

She pulled a bottle of beer out of the cabinet and took a swing. She took chug after chug until the bottle was empty. She stared at the empty bottle, and soon everything began spinning. She tried to get to the counter to hold herself up, but upon moving, she fell over onto the floor. The spinning got faster and faster and everything was a blur.

"Rizzo?"

Her name echoed in her head.

"Rizz- Rizzo!"

A new kind of blur was coming closer to her. Soon everything was black.

"Rizzo? Rizzo, wake up! Rizzo!"

The echoing voice got softer and softer.

"Mom! Help!"

Her body began to feel numb.

"Rizzo…"


	12. Chapter 12

_Enjoy! Please review!_

* * *

Jan's eyes fluttered open and she turned over to find Rizzo's side of the bed empty. She gasped, and hopped out of the bed. She rushed down the hall to the bathroom.

"Rizzo?" The bathroom was empty. She rushed down the stairs and looked in the living room.

"Rizzo?" she called again, getting more and more nervous by the second. "Rizz- " She went into the kitchen, only to find Rizzo lying on the floor.

"Rizzo!" Jan gasped and dropped to her knees at her side. "Rizz, what'd ya do…?" she looked around her to find one of her father's beer bottles lying empty on the floor beside Rizzo. Her eyes shut slowly.

"Rizzo!" Jan cried, shaking Rizzo's unconscious form. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. "Mom! Help!"

Hearing Jan's cries, her mother rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Rizzo!"

Jan's mother appeared in the kitchen and gasped. "What happened?"

"I woke up…and she wasn't in bed. I found her in here…and…and this…" Jan handed her mother the empty bottle. Jan's father then appeared in the kitchen.

"Oh no…" Jan's mother stared at the bottle. "Jan, call the hospital, now!"

Jan nodded and rushed to the phone, shaking as she did so.

An ambulance arrived at their house and they rushed inside and put Rizzo's unconscious form onto a stretcher. Jan followed them out and demanded to sit with her in the ambulance. Jan's parents said they would meet her at the hospital.

Jan ran after the men carrying the stretcher. The neighbors were making a small gathering around the house, whispering among themselves. They gasped when they saw Rizzo unconscious. Jan paid no mind to them.

The men placed the stretcher in the back of the ambulance and helped Jan up. She sat down and held Rizzo's hand.

"You're gonna be alright Rizz," she whispered. "I promise,"

The ambulance started moving and the sirens started blaring.

"Do you know what happened?" the man asked as he checked for a pulse.

"I found her lying on the floor," Jan said shakily, holding back more tears. "And there was an empty bottle of beer next to her. I think she drank all of it,"

The man shook his head sadly. "Her stomach is going to need to be pumped. We'll see what happens after that,"

Jan simply nodded, not really wanting to know what he meant by getting her "stomach pumped". It sounded revolting.

"Is she gonna die?" Jan asked timidly.

"We won't know until after we pump her stomach,"

Jan nodded again, squeezing Rizzo's hand tighter.

* * *

The phone rang again. She looked up from her reading and looked at the phone. Her husband wasn't home…he wouldn't know if she answered the phone. She picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, are you Betty Rizzo's mother?"

"Um yes," she responded nervously.

"She has just been checked in to the hospital. She was found unconscious. She drank an entire bottle of beer. We have to pump her stomach,"

"W…what…" she was dumbstruck. "I…I'm on my way there…thank you…"

The woman on the other end hung up. Her heart jumped everywhere. What was going to become of her daughter? She quickly rushed out the door, not caring what her husband would have to say about it.

* * *

Jan sat with Marty and Sonny in the lobby of the hospital. Jan had called them and they had both gotten there as soon as they could. They were all anxiously awaiting news of Rizzo's condition. The doctors had all said Rizzo got alcohol poisoning.

"I shoulda known…" Jan said. "I shoulda told my dad to hide his beer…I…"

"Jan ya can't blame yourself," Marty put her hand on Jan's leg. "Ya couldn't have known she was gonna wake up before ya,"

"I don't even no why she did it," Jan said. "We managed to keep her away from alcohol the whole time…why did she just break all of a sudden?"

"I guess we'll never know," Sonny said.

Suddenly Rizzo's mother came bursting into the hospital. "Where is she?"

"Mrs. Rizzo!" Jan stood up. "She's getting her stomach pumped. Ya can't see her yet,"

"Oh…" she stopped walking and sat down next to Jan. She was wringing her hands nervously. "She's gonna be ok…right?"

"That's what the doctors said," Jan reassured her.

"She…she's really…not ok…is she?" she stuttered.

"What?" Jan said.

"She's not ok…"

"No, the doctors said – "

"Not that!" her mother snapped. "The accident! Frenchy! Kenickie! She must feel horrible if she drank an entire bottle of beer into unconsciousness!"

Jan sat there stunned for a moment, not entirely sure what to say. Should she say the truth? That Rizzo wasn't ok, and quite possibly won't ever be again?

"I'm sorry…" Rizzo's mother apologized. "I'm just so worried about her. But she's so angry with me…and she has every right to be. But I…I really do love her. She's my daughter. I want to be there for her…to actually be her mother for once. But she wants nothing to do with me!"

Once again, all three of them were at a loss for words. Jan wanted to say that if she just talked to Rizzo it might work out…but Rizzo was the most stubborn person any of them had ever met, especially when it came to her parents. Jan watched helplessly as silent tears fell from her eyes.

"I'm real sorry," Jan said. "I wish I could do something to help,"

"When she wakes up, could you tell her for me?" she looked at her pleadingly. "Maybe she'll listen to you?"

"I…uh…sure thing," Jan reassured her.

"Just tell her that I'm so sorry, and that she has every right to be angry and upset, and that I love her so much,"

"Al…alright," Jan said. She looked nervously back at the other two teenagers sitting next to her, who simply shrugged their shoulders.

Hours of anxious waiting passed, and soon they had been informed that Rizzo was awake and ready to see people. Jan and Marty jumped out of their seats, and Sonny helped Marty up and handed her the crutches. Jan looked back at Rizzo's mother and smiled reassuringly, and the three of them hurried after the doctor.

When they arrived at Rizzo's room, Jan ran to the bed and threw her arms around Rizzo.

"Rizzo!" she exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're alright! Ya scared me to death!" Jan shuddered, remembering seeing her lifeless form.

"I…" Rizzo awkwardly put her arms around Jan. She still couldn't clearly remember what was going on.

"Ya feelin' better Rizz?" Marty asked.

"Yeah…I guess…" Rizzo looked around at her surroundings. "What's going on? how did I get back here?" She suddenly began to panic, thinking that maybe she had been run over by that car, maybe it wasn't a dream. Kenickie was dead. "Kenickie! Is he alright?"

"Nothing's changed with Kenickie," Jan said. "You're back in the hospital…ya drank a whole bottle of beer…a big one,"

Rizzo scrambled through her thoughts frantically. Then it clicked. It was a dream. She had woken up desperately needing alcohol. There had been no one there to stop her this time though. She'd gone too far. "Oh…"

"But they got it all out of ya, and you're gonna be just fine," Jan reassured her.

Rizzo nodded slowly.

"I got good news," Jan broke the awkward silence. "Danny's gettin' outta here tomorrow,"

Rizzo nodded again, a forced smile on her face. The smile quickly faded. Jan watched sadly as Rizzo wrung her hands in a way similar to her mother's. That reminded her. Her mother.

"Uh Rizz," Jan began. "Your mom's here. She wants to see you but she doesn't wanna upset you. She's real sorry for everything that she did. She really does love you, you just gotta let her,"

Rizzo stared at Jan blankly, listening to her say a bunch of words. Slowly, each sentence clicked in her brain. Her mother was here. She's sorry…she loves you…

"Rizzo are ya hearin' anything I'm sayin'?" Jan interrupted her thoughts and Rizzo snapped back to reality. She nodded again then went back to wringing her hands.

"What's wrong with her?" Sonny asked.

"Maybe we should get the doctor…" Marty suggested.

"I…I think so…" Jan got off Rizzo's bed and went outside. "There's something wrong with her. She's not even lookin' at me when I talk to her. All she's doin' is nodding, and I have to tap her on the shoulder just so she does that,"

"Well, she's just had a great amount of alcohol removed from her; she's expected to be a little slow,"

"But…" Jan was about to argue, but she stopped herself. "So that's all normal?"

"Yes," the doctor replied with a smile. "She'll be back to herself in around twenty-four hours,"

Marty was sitting on the bed, talking to Rizzo really slowly and sweetly, and Rizzo was nodding over and over. Jan kept looking at her blank expression, but had to look away. It somehow terrified her.

"You guys, I think we oughta leave Rizzo alone," Jan said. "The doctor said it was best,"

"Oh sure," Sonny said, helping Marty with her crutches again.

The three of them left the room, Marty and Jan waving goodbye. Rizzo lifted her arm in attempt to wave. As soon as they were out of sight she dropped her hand. Her whole body went numb again. Everything was happening way too fast. Her slow brain couldn't process everything. Her mother…beer…Kenickie…her head started pounding again.

"Hey," Rizzo slurred. "Ya got something to drink?"

"I've got water," the doctor smiled.

"Not that," Rizzo brought her hands to her aching head. "I mean…a drink,"

"You can't have any of that," the doctor said firmly. "That's the reason you're here, and giving you more would make you sick again,"

"Good! Kill me!" Rizzo sputtered.

The doctor stared curiously at the insane girl lying before him. Talk like this was what required a psychologist. He was going to need to talk with the girl's mother, whom he had been told was sitting in the lobby.

"I'll get you some water," he said.

"I don't want water dammit!" she shouted.

The doctor stopped and thought about what he should say. "Alright. I'll get you what you want, after you sleep. Alcohol would be better after you sleep," he said calmly. "DO you have any headaches right now?"

Rizzo nodded, holding her head.

"Alright. You get some rest," the doctor watched as Rizzo obeyed and shut her eyes. He smiled to himself and made his way to the lobby to talk to this girl's mother.


	13. Chapter 13

_Hello all! So this chapter kinda goes back and forth and it's a little weird but just bear with me. Not sure if this is needed but god forbid: There is talk of suicide and self harm in this chapter so if anyone is triggered by that please do not continue reading. Enjoy and please review!_

* * *

"So you're saying my daughter is crazy?" Rizzo's mother said, disgusted.

"No not at all!" the doctor said. "Your daughter has been through something horribly traumatic, and feels responsible for the deathly injury of several people, and even the death of someone, all of those people being her friends. Trauma and attempts of suicide are normal but if we – "

"My Betty did _not _attempt suicide!" Rizzo's mother shouted. "All she did was drink a bottle of beer because of all of this happening! She is perfectly sane, and most definitely does _not _need to be put in a mental hospital!"

"Please Ma'am, I need you to calm down," the doctor said. "This sort of denial is what we expect. But if things like this aren't acted on…I hate to say this…but you'll find her dead someday and not know why or how it happened,"

"How dare you! How dare you accuse my daughter of such horrible things! All she did was get alcohol poisoning! My husband has gotten that thousands of times, not once did he mean to get it!"

"Alright…I didn't want to tell you this and upset you more…but since you don't want to cooperate any other way, I guess I'll have to," He paused to wait for a response, and all he got was a confused expression. "She asked for some alcohol when she woke up, and I denied her, explaining that if she had any it would kill her. Now, what she said could have just been because she was angry I wouldn't give her any, or because she had just woken up, but only close observation will tell…"

"What did she say?" Rizzo's mother demanded, growing more and more impatient by the second.

"She said exactly: 'Good, kill me,'"

"So what you're telling me…is that she wants to die? She _told _you she wanted to die?"

"Like I said, it could have just been in the heat of the moment, but yes, I'm afraid so…which is why I have come to speak to you about mental help for her,"

Rizzo's mother flushed pink, ashamed of herself for arguing with him over something so clearly true. "So…what do you do?"

"We'll have to observe her behavior closely even when she's out of the hospital. If she tries anything again, that's when we'll know,"

"But what if she tries and succeeds? You can't help her much then can you!" she said.

"Well if we place her in a mental hospital now when she most needs the people she loves around her, her condition could become far worse. It's best to wait as long as possible,"

"But what if something happens before then? What if…"

"Look, I'm very sorry all this is happening, but you're going to have to trust me," the doctor said firmly. Rizzo's mother opened her mouth to protest, but then shut it again, realizing she didn't have many other choices.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"You're welcome,"

* * *

Rizzo bolted straight up, panting heavily, silent tears rolling down her face. It was another awful dream. Her body was shaking again. _Water. I need water. _She reached over and grabbed the cup of water on the table and drank it all down. She didn't trust that doctor. He had told her that he would bring her a drink for when she woke up, and all she had found was water. Soon he was back to check on her, and then he left to get Jan, Marty, and Sonny, who had been wanting to see her. Rizzo then tried to remember anything that had happened before she fell asleep. There were people in here…who? What were they saying? She shook her head and gave up for the time being.

Jan, Marty and Sonny came into the room. They helped Marty into a chair and leaned her crutches against the wall. Jan sat down on the bed with Rizzo. "How ya feeling?" Jan asked.

"Alright," Rizzo mumbled.

"Rizzo, your mom's here," Jan began nervously. "And she wants to see ya, but she doesn't wanna upset you. She really loves you…she's real worried about ya…"

Rizzo stared at Jan. What did she say to that? "Well…I don't wanna see her," Rizzo said crossing her arms.

"But Rizzo…" Jan argued. "Ya got a right to be mad at her after all she did, but she's still your mom. She still loves ya Rizzo. She's real sorry. Just let her see ya – "

"I'll believe it when I hear her say it herself!" Rizzo said bitterly.

"Then let her talk to ya. Let her see ya," Jan coaxed. "Please? I don't want ya to go through your whole life wishin' ya hadn't pushed her away,"

Rizzo thought for a moment, then she finally gave in. "Fine. I'll talk to her,"

"Good," Jan smiled widely.

After many hours of the four of them talking and maybe even laughing, the three of them left to go see Danny, and the doctor went to get Rizzo's mother. Rizzo sat in her bed nervously wringing her hands. She looked down at her hands and stopped abruptly, realizing that her mother does the exact same thing. The door suddenly opened slowly, and Rizzo's mother nervously stepped in. She had to stifle a gasp as she looked at the sight before her.

Lying in the hospital bed was a tiny skeleton covered in a layer of white skin. Her cheekbones jutted out of her face, and there were black circles under her eyes. Her eyes were empty, hollow. That wasn't her daughter. That was a pile of bones with a barely beating heart.

"Hi Betty," she said warmly. She went to sit down on the bed with her daughter.

"Hey mom," Rizzo said uncomfortably.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I don't know," Rizzo answered honestly.

"Look Betty…I don't want to beat around the bush here," she said. "I…I am so sorry…I'm sorry that I let your father do all those things to you…I'm sorry I let him do all those things to me…I would have taken you and left so long ago…but…I was scared. I don't know what I was scared of…but I was scared. I'm sorry…I'm sorry I failed you as a mother…I'm sorry…"

A tear slipped out of her eye and Rizzo's heart stopped. The only person to make her mother cry was her father.

"Mom?" Rizzo reached out and placed her hand on her mother's shoulder. "Mom…" Rizzo's mother looked up and into Rizzo's eyes. They were wet and full of remorse.

"Betty…" she wrapped her arms around her daughter. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

Rizzo put her arms around her mother's waist and buried her face in her shoulder. They remained in their loving embrace, mother and daughter finally united after seventeen years of arguments and pain. They shed their tears on each other, letting out the pain they had been holding back for seventeen years.

"All I ever wanted," Rizzo's mother said, her arms still around her daughter. "Was this. For you to forgive me, for us to be like a family…to hold you. It's all I ever wanted it,"

Rizzo held tighter to her mother. "Ever since I was little…this is all I ever wanted. To have a normal family like all my friends. I…I never knew if ya actually cared about me…"

"Betty…" she squeezed Rizzo tighter than ever. "I love you so much. I know I screwed up. I know…I'm so sorry…"

"It's…it's okay," Rizzo said slowly. "I…I forgive you. I…I love you too,"

* * *

Marty was sitting in a between to Jan and Sonny by Danny's bedside. They had been having a light hearted conversation just like they used to before the accident, and they had all felt the absence of Frenchy. Each of their hearts had a hole inside it. They were all thinking the same thing, but no one dared to say anything. They had all fallen quiet for that reason. Looking around at each other, each one could tell what the other was thinking. Marty, who had already been holding Sonny's hand, slipped her hand into Jan's and Jan held onto Danny's hand. A silent tear slipped down Jan's cheek.

The doctor suddenly came bursting into the room. The three sitting in the chairs spun around and Danny sat up to see better. "Roger just woke up!"

"What?" Jan exclaimed, jumping out of her seat. "Ya said that…his head…"

"No one is entirely sure what happened, but he's awake!" the doctor beamed.

"Oh…oh my god! Can I see him?" Jan was shaking with joy.

"Of course,"

Jan ran out of the room. She anxiously followed the doctor and when she reached the room, she found Roger's grandma by his side.

"Roger?" Jan said in disbelief.

"Jan!" he exclaimed. Roger's grandma got out of the way.

"Roger!" Jan ran to him and practically jumped on him. She threw her arms around his neck. He put his arms around her. "I…I thought ya were gonna die Rog'! I just…" she was now crying.

"Hey quit cryin'! I'm fine!" Roger laughed.

"I was just so scared!" Jan said. She let go of him and planted a light kiss on his lips. She threw her arms back around his neck, and just then Sonny and Marty showed up. Roger's grandma left to give the kids some privacy. After Jan finally let go of Roger long enough for everyone else to hug him, they were all sitting on the bed with him.

"Where's the rest of the gang huh?" Roger asked light heartedly. Jan then buried her face in Roger and began to cry again, this time with terrible sadness. Marty put her head on Sonny's shoulder sadly. "What the hell did I miss?"

"Well Rizzo's in her own room right now," Sonny knew he'd have to be the one to explain. "She uh…she got herself alcohol poisoning. She's fine now though…Danny's in his own room…he's gettin' out tomorrow. Doody's gonna wake up any day now. Sandy and Kenickie…we don't know anything about them. Doctors ain't tellin' us much about 'em. And uh…Frenchy…she uh…well…." Sonny cleared his throat and quickly wiped his eyes. "She…she didn't make it,"

"Oh…" Roger's voice trailed off and he embraced Jan tighter. "She was just a kid…she was a tiny thing. She was just a kid…"

* * *

The next day, Danny was allowed out of bed, and he and everyone else had gone to see Roger. When the nurse had asked them to leave, Danny hurriedly made his way to the front desk.

"Do uh…do ya know anything about a Sandy Dumbrowski?" he asked.

"Is she one of those kids in that car crash?" the lady at the desk asked.

"Yeah…they ain't tellin' me nothin' about her…and I…I just wanna know…is she gonna be ok?"

"I don't know. I'm not a doctor," the lady said. "I could call the doctor over, but he'll only say all that he's already said. I'm sorry,"

Danny's head boiled up with anger and his fists curled into balls. Instead of punching this lady like he wanted to, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away from the desk.


	14. Chapter 14

_Please review!_

* * *

Danny took a deep breath and stepped in the door that the doctor had led him to. His heart stopped when he saw what was before him. He didn't know what he was expecting, but he never thought it would be like this. She was just laying there…it was like she was dead. He walked the rest of the way to her bedside and sat down in a chair beside her. She had just slipped into a coma, and it could be months until she woke up. He looked at her closely, up and down her whole body and he sniffled loudly. A single tear slipped down his cheek and he reached out to grab her hand.

"I ain't gonna let ya die," he said squeezing her hand. "You're gonna be fine, I know it," he leaned over and gently kissed her forehead. "I don't know if ya can hear me, but if ya can…I love you, ok? That's why ya gotta get better, cuz I need ya, ok?"

* * *

Rizzo was wringing her hands and shaking uncontrollably. She was allowed out of bed today. For whatever dumb reason she couldn't leave the hospital, but she was allowed to walk around today. And the doctor had told her that she was allowed to see Kenickie. She had to wait until the doctor came and helped her out of bed. She could hardly stand waiting any longer. When the doctor finally returned, her stomach flipped several times. He did some dumb procedure that Rizzo barely paid attention to, and finally, she was allowed out of bed. He helped her up, and her legs felt like jelly. After a few steps though, she was able to walk just like normal.

"Can I see him now?" she asked anxiously.

"I'll lead you to his room," the doctor smiled.

Rizzo's stomach hadn't stopped flipping like crazy, and her head and her heart were pounding so that she thought she would explode. She almost fell several times, still not used to walking again, but she just kept going. She wasn't stopping until she finally saw him. When they reached the door though, he stopped.

"What?" Rizzo asked, annoyed.

"Now, his appearance might come as quite a shock. He's been through some terrible things, and it isn't pretty,"

"I don't care I wanna see him now," Rizzo said quickly. "I waited long enough,"

"I know, I just didn't want you to be frightened by his appearance," he said. "And one more thing. Even if he wakes up, he'll never walk again. He is paralyzed from the waist down, and he'll need to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life,"

Rizzo's heart sank. "Really? He won't ever walk again?"

"I'm afraid not,"

Rizzo shook her head. "As long as he's alive, I don't care. I'll take care of him,"

"You may see him now,"

Rizzo opened the door and ran right to the bed. She froze and her eyes widened in shock. She had been warned…but she hadn't even imagined how horrible it would be. Then she thought of how painful that must have been. She wanted to vomit. _She_ had done that to him. The oozing scars and blown up bruises were all there because of _her. _A wave of sorrow suddenly washed over her and she sank to her knees and broke into sobbing. She regained her composure slightly and stood up, carefully sitting herself down on the bed next to him.

"I'm sorry," she murmured through her tears. "I hope I didn't hurt ya too bad…I'm sorry…"

The tears became uncontrollable again and she slowly and carefully lowered her head down to rest on Kenickie's chest. She adjusted her body so that she was comfortably lying with him in the bed with her head resting on his chest. She breathed deeper and deeper, until she had stopped her tears. What had really stopped her was the sound of his heartbeat. It was like he was saying: "Hey, cut it out. I'm still alive ain't I?"

She placed her arm across his body and pulled herself closer. She shut her eyes, and it was almost as if the were just lying in his bedroom, holding each other like any other day. Being in his arms again was heaven, whether he was awake or not. His heart was beating steadily in her ears, and his heavenly scent was filling her head, lulling her into a calm peaceful sleep.

* * *

There was a tap on her shoulder, and she slowly fell back into consciousness, her eyes still closed. She heard his heartbeat again and smelt him, and she smiled. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, and her smile disappeared and her heart dropped as she remembered where she was.

"I'm sorry Miss," the nurse said. "You're going to need to leave. We have to do daily examinations and give him medicine he needs,"

Rizzo nodded. She frowned as she got off the bed. With that stupid chick there, she couldn't kiss him goodbye the way she wanted to. Rizzo threw her an aggravated look.

"I'm sorry," the nurse said awkwardly, and she headed into the hallway. "Take your time,"

Rizzo sat down on the bed and leaned over and gently kissed his broken and bruised lips. Resting her forehead on his, she whispered softly. "I love you Kenickie. Ya gotta wake up soon, ok? I hope ya can hear me. Cuz I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you," she repeated those three words as many times as possible, in case this would be the last time she ever got to say it. She kissed his forehead and hurried into the hallway with her arms crossed over her chest. She walked to Roger's room where she assumed everyone would be. When she stepped inside, everyone turned and looked.

"Jeez, Rizzo!" Jan exclaimed. "Where the hell ya been? We been tryin' to find ya all day!"

"Yeah ya just got outta bed!" Marty said. "Where could ya possibly have gone?"

"I…I was uh…" her face flushed pink. "I was with Kenickie,"

"What?" Jan burst. "He's awake? Jeez Rizzo ya didn't bother tellin' us? We gotta see him now!"

"He ain't awake!" Rizzo said, frustrated. "I just…I just was allowed to sit with him, that's all,"

"Oh," Jan stared at the floor in shame. "Sorry,"

"It's fine," Rizzo shrugged.

"How does he look?" Sonny asked.

Rizzo's eyes darted to Sonny and filled up with tears.

"Oh…I uh…" Sonny felt guilty for raising tears out of Rizzo. "Sorry…"

Rizzo shook her head and buried her face in her hands. She stood there with her face covered making pitiful noises. Sonny very awkwardly placed his arm around her and pulled her closer. She inched closer into him and Sonny wrapped both of his arms around her.

It was nearly six o'clock at night at the six of them were still gathered in Roger's room. Danny suddenly came into the room holding a small child who was asleep on his shoulder.

"Danny! Where ya been all day?" Roger asked.

"Shh!" Danny hissed. "She's sleepin',"

"Who is that?" Sonny asked.

"This is Sandy's little sister, Molly," Danny explained. "She came in to see Sandy while I was in there and she fell asleep next to her. The nurse said we had to leave so I picked her up,"

Rizzo's heart stung. That innocent little kid just saw her big sister lying in a bed like she was dead. _A little girl. _

"Where are her parents?" Marty asked.

"Her dad's at work and her mom had to pick up somethin' to make for dinner, and she didn't wanna leave her sister, so she asked me to keep an eye on her," Danny smiled at the sleeping girl in his arms.

"How is she takin' all this?" Jan asked, getting Danny a chair.

"Well, she's just a kid," Danny said, sitting down and shifting Molly to lie comfortably on him in the chair. "She don't know what goin' on. She thinks Sandy's just really sick and is sleepin' it off; and that she's gonna wake up any day now," He smiled sadly.

_Stupid kid… _Rizzo couldn't even look at her. What was she going to think months from now when Sandy still isn't awake? What was she going to think when they bury her in the ground?

"Rizz, you're shakin'," Jan whispered. "Are ya ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she shook her head in attempt to clear the screaming thoughts inside.

"No, Rizzo you're shakin'," Jan said. "Ya need me to get the doctor?"

"No!" Rizzo said suddenly, much louder than the volume of their conversation. Everyone quieted and turned to look at them. "Ya…ya wouldn't understand…nobody would…I…" with that she tore out of the room.

Jan threw an apologetic look at the others in the room and hurriedly followed Rizzo. When she finally caught up with her, she grabbed her wrist.

"Hey!" Jan spun her around so they were facing each other. "What's wrong?"

"That kid! That stupid kid!" Rizzo said, frustrated that she could never find a way to word what she wanted to say. "She thinks that everything is gonna be fine! Her big sister is gonna wake up any day now! She's in a _coma! _She won't be awake for months. That stupid kid…that poor little kid…she thinks she's gonna wake up soon…she…she…" she stopped talking, no longer having the words to describe what she was feeling. She didn't cry, she didn't scream, she merely stood there. "Sorry…guess we should go back?"

"Uh…yeah," Jan said uneasily. They walked back to the room and sat back down.

"Everything ok?" Danny asked.

"We're fine," Rizzo said.

After a few minutes, Sandy's mother came into the room and smiled seeing Danny holding her sleepy daughter.

"Danny, you're welcome to come eat dinner with us," she smiled taking Molly into her arms. "Your parents too,"

"Thanks Mrs. Dumbrowski," Danny said. "See ya guys," Danny said, following Sandy's mother out of the door.

"She's a cute kid," Marty smiled.

"Yeah," Rizzo said bitterly. "Just _adorable,_"

* * *

A few more hours passed and soon Jan and Rizzo's mother came into the room.

"Jan," Jan's mother said. "You need to get home and have a good nigh sleep,"

"I wanna stay with Roger!" Jan protested.

"Jan, I told you no yesterday, and that isn't going to change today," Jan's mother said firmly.

"But…fine," Jan reluctantly gave in.

"Betty," Rizzo's mom said. "I want to talk to you,"

Rizzo gave her a puzzled look and followed her into the hallway.

"I…I can't go back," her mother said.

"What?" Rizzo said.

"I can't go back with your father. I can't force myself, or you, to go on living like that,"

"What are ya sayin'…where are we supposed to go?"

"Jan's mother is letting us stay there until I can find my own place. I just have to get money out of your father's account and get a job and we'll be good to go," she smiled at her daughter and grabbed her hands. "I can finally give you the life you always wanted. I can finally be the mother I've always wanted to be, and the one you've always wanted,"

"Mom…this is a great idea and all but…what made ya think of this all of a sudden? How do ya know it's gonna work? What if he finds us?"

"He hasn't noticed I've been gone yet! And it's been three days since I've been home. You haven't been home in two weeks and two days. I doubt he'll notice any time soon. And when he does…I doubt he'll care. It's just been so nice not being home…actually talking to you like we're actually family…that house isn't home. If it's just me and you we can make it a home,"

Rizzo thought about it. It seemed like a nice idea. Not having to be near her father ever again. Just her and her mother. "Ya think it could work?"

"I do," she said.

"Ok," Rizzo smiled. "Let's do it,"

Her mother wrapped her arms around her and Rizzo returned the embrace. "I'm going to make you so happy,"

Jan quickly kissed Roger goodnight and followed her mother out the door. Jan, Rizzo, and their mothers walked into the parking lot and they drove to Jan's house.

"Rizzo…are you alright? Do I need to bring you back to the hospital?" her mother asked nervously once they had parked by Jan's house.

She shook her head quickly, and tried to open the door, which was still locked.

"Are you sure?"

"Mom, the door!" Rizzo shouted, now not being able to breathe. Her mother quickly unlocked the doors and Rizzo threw herself out of the car and breathed as deeply as possible.

"What was that?" her mother asked.

"Nothing…I'm fine…" Rizzo walked to the porch.

Her mother was unconvinced, and after what the doctor said, she wasn't about to take that for an answer. "You don't look fine,"

"Look…I don't know what happened either…" Rizzo said, her head still spinning and her stomach still churning. "It happens whenever I'm in the car,"

She suddenly made the connection. Her daughter got horrible anxiety being in a car because of what happened.

"Well why don't you just take a nice hot shower and calm down," she suggested.

Rizzo nodded and went upstairs with Jan.


	15. Chapter 15

_Again I have to warn about triggers of suicide and self harm, God forbid anybody gets triggered. This is a very dark chapter, and I apologize for that. It gets better quick though. Please review!_

* * *

Rizzo was lying with Kenickie again. It was now exactly two weeks since the crash. She breathed calmly and listened to his heartbeat. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"What?" she asked bitterly, not wanting to be interrupted.

The door opened and Sonny stepped in. "Doody's awake!"

Rizzo's throat closed up and her chest tightened.

"Don't ya wanna see him?" Jan asked from behind him.

"Yeah…" Rizzo kissed Kenickie's head quickly and followed them to Doody's room.

_He's probably wondering why Frenchy isn't sitting there holding his hand and kissing him and screaming because he's awake…_

When they reached the room, they opened the door, and found Doody lying in his bed. His face lit up incredibly.

"You guys!" he exclaimed. They all jumped on him, except Rizzo, who stayed close to the door with her arms crossed tightly across her chest. He greeted each of them accordingly, and when they had all gotten off of the bed, he looked around. "Hey Rizz!" Rizzo lifted her hand slightly to wave then placed it back across her chest. "Where's the rest of the gang huh? Where's French?"

Everyone's smiled disappeared and Rizzo nearly choked.

"What? What happened?" Panic washed over him "Why's everyone so quiet? Where is she?"

"Doody…" Sonny walked to him and put his hand on his shoulder sitting down. "Listen to me…sometimes…things happen…and…"

"What's goin' on?" he said, much angrier.

"Doody listen," Sonny said. He sniffled and cleared his throat. "When the car hit the truck…since you two were sittin' by the window…she…she got crushed…"

"What are ya sayin'?" Doody sat straight up, throwing Sonny's hand off his shoulder.

"She had to have surgery…and…" Sonny couldn't stop the tear from rolling down his cheek. The pain his best friend was about to endure hurt him almost as much as it would hurt Doody. "She…she didn't make it Doody…"

"What?" he snapped, fuming with anger. "No. You're kiddin'. Well it ain't funny! Cut it out!"

"I'm so sorry…" Sonny said helplessly.

"I said cut it _out!" _he screamed. "Ya stop that right now! She ain't dead! She ain't!"

Jan and Marty were clinging to each other shedding uncontrollable tears and Danny had his hands shoved into his pockets. Rizzo was having trouble breathing in the doorway.

"Doody…ya gotta listen to me," Sonny said. "I know ya don't wanna believe it…"

"I ain't gonna believe it cuz it ain't true!" Doody shouted. He looked at Jan and Marty. "Right girls? She's your best friend! She can't be dead! Tell this idiot to shut up!"

"I'm sorry Doody…" Marty mumbled, barely understood.

"Stop it!" Doody tried to get up out of bed.

"Whoa! Dood, stop!" Sonny sat him back down. Doody tried to fight and get up again. He was shouting for Frenchy over and over. Sonny brought his hand hard across Doody's face.

"_Look _at me!" Sonny shouted. Doody stopped fighting shocked by the force of the slap. He stared furiously into Sonny's eyes, and then they slowly filled up with tears. A pathetic sound escaped his lips and Sonny pulled him into a tight hug. Danny sat down and wrapped his arms around Doody. Marty and Jan then joined. Doody's silent sobbing had soon turned into hysterics. He looked up at Rizzo, who was still standing stiff as a rock by the doorway. There was such hatred in his eyes that Rizzo stumbled back. Those eyes had sent a knife flying into her chest. Guilt burned all over the inside and outside of her body she opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out. The rest of them sitting on the bed were now watching her nervously. Hot tears poured out of her eyes and she whirled around and tore out of the room.

She kept running until she found the bathroom. She threw herself in and slapped her hands to her face. Her face completely buried she burst into hysteria. The pain was choking her, pressing dead weight on all of her muscles, making every movement difficult. Every breath was another intake of knives into her chest. She just wanted it to stop. It had to end. The pain was too much. In that very moment she wanted nothing more than for it to stop. And the only way that would happen were if she were dead. She removed her hands from her face and searched everywhere in the bathroom for something…anything…

Jan released her grip on Doody and ran after Rizzo. "Rizz! Wait" she tried to follow her. She lost her for a moment, and went to the lobby, with no success in finding her. She then thought to check the bathroom. She ran until she found the ladies room. She opened the door and her heart stopped completely. She made the connection between what Rizzo was holding in her hands and the tears streaming down her face. Her jaw dropped down to the floor.

"Rizzo!" she couldn't get her legs to move. Her mind had not begun to properly function again.

Rizzo looked up frantically, her heart racing with panic. She kept her eyes locked on Jan for a long time.

_She's gonna stop me…she's gonna take it away…_

She looked down at her trembling hands that held the cleaning product that she had snatched form under the cabinet. She desperately unscrewed the cap and raised it to her mouth again.

**_"Rizzo!"_** Jan's body moved without her making it and she snatched the bottle out of Rizzo's hand and sent it flying across the room. Jan stood there panting heavily and Rizzo stared at her empty hands. She snapped her head up to look at Jan. Rizzo opened her mouth to scream at Jan but no sound came out. And then after a moment of silence words came out of her mouth in the form of a pitiful squeak.

"What'd ya do?" she squeezed her head so hard it might have exploded. "Why'd ya do that…I…I wanna die…I just wanna die…"

Jan stood stock still, frozen with horror. She had no clue at all what she should do. What she wanted to do was run away and pretend she hadn't seen any of that. But she couldn't do that.

"I just wanna die…" Rizzo slowly brought her hands off her head and curled into fetal position and squeezed her entire body. "Just let me die…please…" she was now crying again. She repeated herself over and over until she was screaming. Jan nervously sat down next to her, tears also flowing from her eyes. She slowly put her arms around Rizzo and brought her closer. Rizzo stayed curled up in a ball and let Jan hold her.

"Why did ya do that? Why don't ya just kill me?" Rizzo sobbed. "Why ain't I dead…?"

"Y-y-you're not dead…because…" Jan frantically searched for the right words to say. "Because your mom…she needs ya. You're her _daughter_…her baby girl. She loves ya. She'd never be able to get away from your dad without ya…" Jan continued to think of things to say to comfort her. Rizzo continued her sobbing while Jan went on. "Me. And Marty and Sonny and Danny and Doody…we need ya. I…I love ya Rizzo…I couldn't get through this without ya…Ya have to stay alive Rizzo. Ya have to because ya never got to see Sandy wake up yet…or…or Kenickie," Rizzo quieted her wailing to a heavy sob and listened closer. "Ya can't die Rizzo…because what'll Kenickie do when he wakes up? Would ya do something like that to him? He's gonna wake up, and wonder why his girl ain't right by his side…and then I'm gonna have to tell him that she survived the crash…but she killed herself. After all that waitin' for him to wake up, after all the other crap she's been through…she just ended her own life. How do ya think he's gonna feel Rizzo? He'll be mad. Real mad. He's gonna wonder why ya gave up on him and just left. And I won't have nothin' to say to him. There won't be any reason that I'll be able to say out loud. He ain't gonna wanna live either. He's gonna wanna die too. And then you'll feel pretty terrible. Won't ya?"

Rizzo had not been able to stop crying but she had been listening very carefully. She thought about every word Jan had said. She thought about all the people she'd make miserable. What a waste of time that it was to rescue her from the accident, to pump her stomach, if she was just going to throw it all away and kill herself anyway. And she thought of Kenickie…what if he woke up, and she was gone? She tried to imagine herself in the position, having it being her waking up to hearing that news about him. She'd be furious at him. She'd never forgive him for leaving her. How could she put him through that?

Then hate began to set in. She was about to hurt so many people, and permanently scar Kenickie. The hate burned all over her very skin. She wanted to just take knives and cut up her entire body.

"I'm sorry…" she blubbered, and the hysteria started again. "I'm sorry…I just can't take it anymore…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" she repeatedly apologized over and over, while Jan sat there holding her, crying along with her.

A woman came into the bathroom and stopped in the doorway. She looked questioningly at the two girls and the bottle of cleaning product that lie spilled all over the floor.

"Is everything alright in here?" the woman asked.

Jan looked up, still gently stroking Rizzo's head. "She's just upset…it's been a rough day," Jan said. "Rizzo, why don't we go home, and wash ya up?"

Rizzo tried to nod, but it only looked like she was shaking more violently than she already was. Jan helped Rizzo off the floor and walked her out of the bathroom, leaving the concerned woman with a puzzled look on her face.

They had gotten halfway to the lobby when Rizzo stopped. She looked Jan in the eye.

"Don't tell my mom…please…" she whispered. "Whatever ya do just don't tell her…I need her to think that I'm ok…please?"

Jan wasn't sure what to do. If it was what Rizzo wished, she would do it in a heartbeat. But this wasn't just asking her not to tell about stealing some candy bars, or a boy she'd been with that she wasn't supposed to. This was her _life_. What if Rizzo really needed help? What if she stayed silent, and Rizzo tried again? But what if she did say something? Rizzo would be even more unhappy…what should she do?

"First ya gotta promise me something Rizzo…" Jan said, now looking into her eyes. "Ya gotta promise ya won't do that again. Ya gotta promise you're ok. Because if anything happens, it'll be my fault. Ya gotta really be ok Rizzo. Please don't lie to me…I love ya Rizzo, I want ya to be safe. Ya promise?"

"I promise…I'm sorry…" she held back more tears. "It was just too much…looking back I see how stupid that was…Kenickie would hate my guts if I did…I gotta see him wake up. That's what I'm waitin' for. I'm stickin' around for that. I promise,"

Jan threw her arms around Rizzo and Rizzo returned the embrace. "Thank you," Rizzo whispered.


	16. Chapter 16

_Sort of a short chapter...but here you go! Most of this chapter is upon the request of a reviewer! Please review!_

* * *

Two weeks and three days. In only two weeks and three days life had changed so much for everyone. Two weeks and three days ago, none of them imagined themselves standing in a cemetery. Two weeks and three days ago, if someone had told any of them they'd be visiting someone at their grave, they would have burst out laughing, and started making bets as to who would be stupid enough to get themselves killed. Two weeks and three days ago, the worst thing Rizzo could have done was to cry, to show her real self in front of anyone. She had done that, and far, far worse, in just two weeks and three days.

Danny, Marty, Sonny, Jan, Roger, and Rizzo stood in a clump a good distance from Frenchy's grave and watched Doody sadly. He was kneeling by her grave with flowers in her hands, shaking, no doubt with sobs. None of them could hear what he was saying, but Danny and Rizzo had a pretty good idea. He was apologizing over and over, wishing he would have protected her, done something…anything to save her. Apologizing that it wasn't him instead of her…blaming himself over and over…

After a long while, he finally put down the flowers and stood up. He walked back towards them with a hard, blank expression. Rizzo stared at the ground miserably. She knew he also blamed her. She knew he would never forgive her. Nothing could ever be the same again.

Doody went with Sonny back to Doody's parent's car, Roger went with Jan into her mom's car, and Rizzo and Marty got into Rizzo's mom's car. Rizzo buried her face in her hands and Marty wrapped her arms around her.

"He hates me," Rizzo mumbled through her tears.

"No sweetie…" Marty comforted her. "He's just in so much pain…he don't know what to do with himself. Just give it some time, ok?"

Rizzo simply continued crying.

* * *

Rizzo sat holding her knees with her head buried in her arms Jan sat beside her rubbing her back. She wanted it not to be true so badly…It could be years before he woke up…and what then? Would he even remember her? What if it was so long that they had to just stop keeping him alive?

In just a week and four days, Rizzo had managed to kill one person, and put two of them in a coma. _Two. _

"Hey," Jan said, lifting Rizzo's head. "At least he's still alive. He will wake up one day I know it,"

"But what am I supposed to do until then?" Rizzo buried her head again.

Jan stayed quiet, not having an answer for her.

How was Rizzo supposed to keep going on for months, even years, like _this? _Hating every single piece of herself, waking up every morning wishing she hadn't, walking down the sidewalk wishing that if she jumped into traffic that no one would stop her…

She had her friends. And she loved them and was so grateful for them. But even though things would be different without Frenchy, everything would be even more awful. Doody would hate her for the rest of their lives, creating a barrier between all of them. And she couldn't even look at him without literal physical pain creeping everywhere in her body. Here she was, suffering the way she was, over Kenickie who might wake up someday, and there he was, with his girl dead. She didn't have any right to be this miserable…

And there was her mother. And Jan's mother. But they didn't know how badly Rizzo just wanted to disappear…they had no idea what those looks from Doody did to her…

The only thing getting her through it all was knowing that someday Kenickie would wake up, and now who knows how long she'd have to wait? Who knows if he'd even wake up? How was she supposed to carry on?

"What am I gonna do?" she whispered.

"Ya just gotta keep doin' what ya were before," Jan said. "Nothin' really changed except that it's just gonna be longer,"

"I guess you're right…" Rizzo admitted. Nothing had really changed. It would just be longer than expected. A delay. Delayed happiness.

There was a knock at the door. Jan and Rizzo stayed right where they were, deciding that whoever it was were looking for one of their parents.

"Jan, Rizzo," Jan's mother called. "There's someone here to see you,"

Jan and Rizzo gave each other a puzzled look and got up and walked to the door. As they got closer to the door, Rizzo realized who it was, and she screwed up her face in confusion.

"Oh sweetie!" the unexpected visitor threw her arms around Rizzo. "I'm _so_ sorry I haven't come by sooner! You must think me a _terrible_ person! My family and I were away and then it took a while for the news to get to me but I came by as soon as I can! How are you Rizzo? You're so thin and pale! Have you been eating? You probably haven't, you poor thing…"

She released her grip on Rizzo and threw herself onto Jan. "Oh, Jan! How have you been? I really am so glad you're both ok!"

"Thanks…" Jan said awkwardly. "…Patty…"

"Why don't you come in?" Jan's mother led the three of them into the living room. "Anything to drink Patty?"

"Oh no I'm fine, thank you," Patty said smoothing out her skirt as she sat down on the couch next to Jan. Jan's mother left the room to give the three of them some privacy.

"So…Patty…how have ya been?" Jan asked uncomfortably.

"Oh enough about me!" Patty scoffed. "What about you two? You've both been through terrible…_awful _things…and Frenchy…" Patty said tragically, her hands flying to her face to wipe away her tears. "That poor thing! She was so young, so sweet…she had such a future ahead of her…and Doody…that poor boy lost his girl!" Patty seemed unable to control her tears. "I'm sorry…this was all very sudden…One minute I was unpacking from a family vacation….and next thing I know I'm being told my friends have been in a terrible accident, and one of them is _dead!_"

She threw her arms around Jan again, who awkwardly returned the embrace, unsure of what to think. She never imagined herself comforting a hysterical Patty Simcox…in her own house…

"I'm sorry," Patty got a hold of herself and let go of Jan. She sat straight again and blew her nose loudly into a handkerchief. "I don't know how you two did it…you were both so close to her…I'm so, _so _sorry…"

"Thanks, Patty," Jan said. She nudged Rizzo, who seemed to have lost focus and was staring straight ahead of her with her arms crossed, her nails digging into her skin.

"What? Oh…thanks," she said quickly.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Patty said, reaching for the basket she had placed on the coffee table. "I made you both cookies, chocolate chip and sugar. I do hope you like them…they're from the heart," she smiled, handing Jan the basket.

"Gee, thanks Patty," Jan said, putting the basket down on the floor by her feet. "We'll be sure to eat some, and we'll let ya know how they taste,"

"You're very welcome; and if there is anything else I can do, and I mean _anything_, you just say the word and I'm there. I can't even imagine how traumatizing this all must be…" she sighed. "And poor Sandy, and Kenickie…Comas I hear…" she sighed again. "We'll just have to hope they'll wake up very soon. I was just on my way to visit them…would you like to join me?"

"Sure thing," Jan said. "I'll just let my mom know," Jan got up to go find her mother.

"Oh, and Rizzo," Patty lowered her voice after Jan had left. Rizzo snapped back to attention and tried to look at Patty while she talked. "I hope you don't feel too guilty…I know you must feel quite awful…it isn't your fault you know. I'm so sorry," Patty embraced Rizzo, but this time it wasn't abrupt or awkward, it was genuine, and sweet.

At first, Rizzo didn't know how to react to this new side of Patty. After moments of hesitation, she returned the embrace. When they released each other, Rizzo tried to smile the best she could. "Thanks a lot Patty…it means a lot…"

"It's no problem at all. I'm here for you, all of you," she said, taking Rizzo's hand.

"My mom said it's alright; let's go," Jan poked her head in the door. With that, Rizzo and Patty followed Jan out the door.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Hello all! Again another short chapter; but I have an announcement! Starting now, I am taking requests as to where you would like this story to go! What other characters would you like to see? OCs are included! You can request any pre-existing OCs, such as Rizzo's mother, or Molly (Sandy's sitster), or you can request I make one, like any other family members of any character in the story. Keep in mind, I have never seen the Grease movie, only the original Broadway musical. Also accepting plot-lines, to a certain extent of course. And no, sorry, requests for certain characters to wake up out of their comas will not be accepted! Sorry! That you will have to wait and see! So keeping all these things in mind, leave some reviews with requests, and I will private message you whether I will write about your requests or not! Thanks to each and every one of you! I am so happy I have held your attention for so long with this! Stay tuned! There's lots more where that came from! Thanks again!**_

* * *

Life went on. Rizzo and her mother had gone back to their house when they knew their father wouldn't be home and they quickly packed up anything and everything they could carry and gone back to Jan's house. Her mother looked for a job, and an apartment for the two of them. Everyone's parents went back to work, things had seemed normal again, as normal as things could get.

The nightmares continued for Rizzo. Every night it was the same thing. Death. Everywhere. There was no way of stopping them unless she didn't sleep, and cheating sleep was rather difficult. Every morning there were tears, maybe even screaming. Jan had always helped her breathe again. She was grateful for that.

Every Saturday morning, the gang, plus Patty, went to the hospital to visit Sandy and Kenickie. Everyone else would leave, and Rizzo would stay behind and lay with Kenickie, and Danny stayed behind to lay with Sandy.

Life just kept going, until it was two months since the accident. Patty had started accompanying them places more and more. One night when they were getting into bed, Jan turned to Rizzo.

"We ain't lettin' Patty in the Pink Ladies, are we?" she asked.

"Of course not," Rizzo said. "Why?"

"Well, it's just, she's been hangin' with us a lot lately, which is fine I guess. I mean, even though school just ended, she's changed a lot; she ain't so annoying no more," Jan said. "But…I feel like if we let her in…it's like we're replacing Frenchy…"

"Are ya kiddin'?" Rizzo's blood boiled. "We ain't replacin' nobody! She ain't gettin' in the Pink Ladies! The Pink Ladies have always been me, you, Marty, and Frenchy. We let Sandy in 'cause she was Danny's girl, and 'cause she was pretty cool. That's how it's gonna stay! The five of us. Nobody else. We ain't replacin' nobody,"

"Good," Jan nodded, glad they were both in agreement on the subject. Rizzo was right. It would be awful if they replaced Frenchy. The Pinks would always be the five of them, and that was it. And if Frenchy were alive, she'd hate to be replaced. Nothing was different just because she wasn't alive anymore.

That night that they lie down together was exactly two months from the accident. Tomorrow was Saturday, which meant they would be visiting Sandy and Kenickie. Saturdays was the day that Rizzo regained some sanity, or at least enough to get her through until the next Saturday.

Every week was a raging war, with each day as its own battle. The demons inside of her were constantly screaming. She should be dead, they say. He's never going to wake up, why don't you just die? Give up, they scream. _Die_.

But she fights them away. If a day ever comes where she can't stand it anymore, she just sits alone and cries, maybe even screams. Sometimes it gets so bad, she almost tries again…but then Saturday comes. And she gets to see Kenickie. Seeing him makes her forget. She is at peace with herself for those few hours that she gets to lay with him. Sometimes she even sleeps, without nightmares. In fact, there were peaceful dreams, or maybe even none at all. Just peace.

This week hadn't been particularly bad, except for today. It had been exactly two months since Rizzo had put Sandy and Kenickie in a coma. Exactly two months since she killed Frenchy. Exactly two months since she broke the unbreakable bond of friendship.

On their visits, Rizzo always stayed close to Jan, who was always close to Roger. But then there was Doody, who stayed far away from Rizzo. Sonny always stayed near Doody, which meant Marty also stood with Doody, considering she was attached to Sonny. The two groups were always on opposite sides of the room. Danny was never on any particular side, he was just there. He didn't care much about anything besides Sandy at the moment.

Was this it? Was this the end of the Pink Ladies and the T-Birds? They had been torn apart by the sudden death of a member, and a burning hatred had grown because of it.

But they were all still there in the same room. They had all come together for one reason: to visit their friends who were still not well. Maybe when Sandy and Kenickie woke up things would change?

Rizzo certainly hoped so. They all did. They all hated having to pick sides in an argument that really wasn't much of an argument. Sonny felt the need to stand by Doody. He had been having a pretty rough time without Frenchy. Somebody had to be there for him. Rizzo had Jan to be there for her.

But what they really needed was for everyone to be there for each other.

Rizzo meant to apologize, every time she saw Doody. But every time she built up the courage, he would throw her a look, or she would simply panic.

On this particular day, they were making there way over to Kenickie's room after having visited Sandy, and Rizzo thought she was finally ready. She told Jan to let her fall behind, and she looked Sonny in the eye, and Sonny ran ahead of Doody, dragging Marty with her. Doody tried to catch up with Sonny, but Rizzo touched his shoulder.

"Wait!" she said.

Doody froze. He slowly turned around, his expression unreadable. "What?" he said through gritted teeth.

"Um…" Rizzo twisted her shirt in her fingers. "I…" No. She would do it this time. She wasn't going to back down anymore. "Look…I…I am...I know you're angry…furious about what happened…"

He glared at her, anger boiling up in his spinning head.

"…and ya should be," Rizzo continued, her head also racing and spinning, searching for the right words to say. "I deserve everything ya throw at me…" she was going to lose it. "I…I…."

Suddenly all of the emotion she had been desperately holding back came flowing out. "I'm sorry…." She mumbled. She began sobbing. "I am so…so sorry…I'm sorry I killed Frenchy…I'm sorry that you're miserable…but…but I'm miserable too…and I couldn't stand it anymore…and I'm so sorry…I never wanted anything like this to happen…I loved that girl like she was my own sister!" Rizzo's tears had become uncontrollable. Doody was eying her up and down, never having seen this side of Rizzo. His hardened expression softened, and his brow furrowed.

Rizzo could no longer get words out; she simply stood there with her face buried in her hands, trying to control her tears. Doody was suddenly overcome with waves of grief, crashing into his body from every which way. His heart shattered, and he realized everything he had put Rizzo through. He had put all the blame on her, making her feel responsible for Frenchy's death. Making her responsible for his misery. He was disgusted with himself. He began hating every part of himself.

He wrapped his arms around Rizzo and broke down into sobs. Shocked, Rizzo looked up to see him crying along with her. She put her arms around his waist and squeezed him tightly. They both repeated the words "I'm sorry," countless times.

After a few minutes, Jan had come looking for them, getting worried about them. She stopped when she saw them holding each other and she smiled. The two were no longer crying, but they were still holding each other and apologizing. Jan walked over to them.

"You guys ok?" she said, knowing what the answer would be. They let go of each other, and Doody grabbed Rizzo's hand.

"We're fine," Doody said. He squeezed Rizzo's hand and looked at her with a tiny, barely visible smile. Rizzo nodded at Jan.

Jan beamed. That was the first time Doody had smiled in months. She led the two of them to Kenickie's room.


	18. Chapter 18

___Hello all! Alright so apparently I'm no good at writing long chapters anymore...sorry! Haha so I put some of your requests in this chapter! And to some guests who madenthis request: I'm really not sure how I would fit Miss Lynch in. If you have any suggestions, please feel free! And by the way, I would never imagine putting Doody amd Rizzo as a couple! Haha! Enjoy and please review!_

* * *

Rizzo was lying with Kenickie, her eyes slowly shutting, when suddenly the door opened. Rizzo sat straight up, prepared to give whoever it was a piece of her mind. She opened her mouth to speak, but shut it again, seeing who it was.

"Oh…Sorry Rizzo…I didn't know anyone was in here," Danny said sheepishly.

"It's fine," Rizzo shrugged it off. Rizzo went to lie down again, but she stopped, seeing that Danny hadn't left, and didn't seem to have the intention to.

"So…"

"What?" Rizzo asked, a bit annoyed. This was the only time she had with Kenickie alone.

"How have ya been?"

Rizzo stared at Danny dumbfounded. "I…well what do ya think?"

"Yeah I figured…" he scuffed his toe on the tiled floor. "How's Kenick?"

"How should I know?" Rizzo said. "He ain't gonna wake up and tell me is he?"

Danny stared at his shoes. "Sorry…"

"No…" Rizzo said, realizing how insensitive she was being. "I'm sorry…It's just…"

"Yeah I know," Danny said. "I don't know much about Sandy either. I wish there was some way I could know…Molly keeps askin' when she's gonna wake up,"

"Stupid kid," Rizzo muttered.

"Hey, leave that kid alone," Danny said. "She just wants her sister back,"

"Yeah I know," Rizzo said, feeling shameful again. "Sorry…"

"Whatever," Danny shrugged. "I should be gettin' back to Molly I guess,"

"What do ya mean?"

"She likes spendin' time with me, that kid," Danny smiled. "And I'm willin' to do whatever she wants if it'll keep her happy until Sandy wakes up,"

Rizzo smiled. She had only known Danny as a little jerk. Now here he was, playing with kids. "Well, ain't that sweet," she teased.

"Ah, come off it Rizzo," Danny said. " Sandy 's family is my family. She's like my little sister,"

Rizzo simply chuckled again.

"Ya know, bein' tough don't matter no more," Danny said thoughtfully. "Funny; one thing can change how ya look at everything. A few months ago, I wouldn't be caught dead playin' around with little kids, and now I'm takin' the kid to the park, for ice cream…" he sighed. "Funny how people change, huh?"

* * *

With that he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked out the door.

"Ya hear that, Kenick?" Rizzo said, lying down again. "The big and tough Danny Zuko is haulin' kids around town," She laughed to herself, finally settling down next to Kenickie. "It really is pretty funny how people change…"

Life kept moving on and on, until it was three months after the accident. This last month had been a bit more eventful. Rizzo's mother had gotten a job at the bank. Sandy 's finger had moved, and then when the doctors asked her to do it again, she did. So now Sandy was responding to sound and was able to do something about it. That meant she would wake up soon.

Kenickie's parents had also returned, this time his father was more angry than ever. His son hadn't been home in nearly three months, and he wasn't happy about it. The doctor tried explaining that they were doing everything they could, but it wasn't enough for him. He had burst in on Rizzo while she was lying with Kenickie and simply started shouting at her, placing all the blame on her. He ended up getting escorted out again.

That night Rizzo cried herself to sleep.

On the Saturday that followed the three month anniversary, they all gathered in the hospital just as they normally did. The whole gang had become quite attached to little Molly, even Rizzo. And for reasons that nobody would ever figure out, Molly seemed quite drawn to Rizzo. When she arrived at the hospital, Rizzo was always the first one that she would greet with a hug, and occasionally a kiss on the cheek.

So when Molly arrived, everyone's faces lit up, and like usual, Molly ran straight to Rizzo.

"Hello Rizzo!" she said throwing her arms around her.

"Hey squirt," Rizzo said.

"Guess what? Guess what?" Molly said excitedly.

"What?" Rizzo raised her eyebrows.

"On my first day of second grade, my teacher said we had to draw a picture of someone who we…um..." Molly searched for the new word that her teacher had used. "Admired! And guess who I drew a picture of?"

"Who?" Rizzo couldn't help laughing at the amount of energy the girl had.

"Wait I'll show you!" Molly said reaching into the bag she was holding and pulling out a piece of paper with splashes of color on it. "It's you!"

Rizzo took the picture in her hands and examined it closely. "_Me?" _she said in disbelief.

"Yeah! See, that's your dark brown hair," she explained, pointing to the features on the picture she was describing. "Those are your brown eyes, and that's me! You're holding my hand," Molly beamed up at her, but her smile disappeared.

Rizzo couldn't believe it. Of all people she could have chosen from… _Me? _... Then it hit her. She was just a kid. She didn't know the war that was constantly burning inside her. She might have known it was Rizzo who was driving when she nearly killed her sister, but would she care? Of course not. She just saw Rizzo as just another person who she loved to play with.

She was baffled. How could anyone possibly admire her? She should be admiring people like her sister: sweet and good natured. Now Rizzo…she drank, she smoked more cigarettes than he could count, and she had lost track of the number of guys she had slept with…what kind of little girl admires _that?_

But none the less, she did admire her. And it touched Rizzo's heart in a way it had never been touched before. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"You don't like it?" Molly said, a pout appearing on her face.

"No! No!" Rizzo gathered the girl in her arms. "I love it. I do. It's beautiful,"

"Then why are you sad?"

"I'm not sad," Rizzo said, wiping her tears away. "I'm happy. Really happy. Sometimes when people are really happy, they cry. And you made me really happy,"

"I did?" Molly's face lit up again. Rizzo nodded. "Yay!" Molly threw her arms around Rizzo. "Will it last a while?"

"What do ya mean?" Rizzo asked.

"Me making you happy…will it last a long time?"

Rizzo's brow furrowed with confusion. "Well…I…why do you ask?"

"Because you always look so sad. Before, you never smiled. Not even once. Ya know, I remember when I first saw you smile. It was when you saw Danny and me playing together. You didn't know I saw, but I did," Molly said sneakily. "And since then I always wanted to make you smile again. And I did! And now, I made you so happy, you cried. So will it last a long time?"

Again, Rizzo was baffled. This little girl had not only recognized that Rizzo was unhappy, but she wanted to put an end to it. Of course, she didn't know that putting an end to Rizzo's unhappiness was near impossible, but still. Her one goal since a random day over the summer was to make Rizzo smile. Rizzo's heart swelled again, and tears came to her eyes.

"Aw, ya stupid kid," Rizzo said lovingly as she pulled Molly into a hug. "I think it will,"

"Really?"

"Uh-huh," Rizzo said, quickly wiping her eyes so Molly didn't notice.

"Yay!" Molly released her grip on Rizzo and danced around. "Can I go see Sandy now?"

"Sure thing," Rizzo smiled and extended her hand for her to hold. Hand in hand, they walked down the hall to Sandy 's room, the rest of the group following with large, stupid grins on their faces as they watched the young girl and the troubled teenager skip down the hallway.

_Isn't it funny how people change?_


	19. Chapter 19

_Hello my lovies! Ok so ya know how I said I wouldnt add in Miss Lynch? Well I lied! The genius known as ASianSuccessor2012 gave me wonderful ideas! So here it is! please review! Sorry if Lynch is a little OOC. To see more of ASianSuccessor2012 's genius read her stories here: u/4194773/ASianSuccessor2012_

* * *

The next day, Patty was leaving for college and wanted to say goodbye to everyone. She was flying to New York to study business in a chilly upstate school. They had all come to the airport with her, and now they were all sitting together, waiting for her plane to arrive.

"I'm going to miss you all so much!" Patty said, tears welling up in her eyes. "You have all been so great…" she quickly wiped her tears. "Promise me you'll write?"

"Of course! Yeah! Sure!" they all responded at once.

"Good!" she said, blowing her nose.

They all sat and made fun conversation, until the plane leaving for New York landed. They all stood up and they each gave her a long hug. Patty squeezed Rizzo a bit tighter than she had everyone else.

"If you need anything, and I mean anything, you give me a call. Alright?" she whispered in Rizzo's ear.

"Thanks Patty," Rizzo said. She released her embrace on Patty, never having imagined she would ever be sad to see Patty Simcox walk out of her life.

Patty then ran and hugged her parents and her older brothers. When she walked away toward the gate she turned around and gave a tearful wave, and then she disappeared into the plane.

"I never thought I'd say this…" Roger said. "But I'm gonna miss that girl,"

"She'll be back for the holidays!" Jan said. "We'll see her then,"

They all went on their way home, each one of them wondering when, and if they'd ever go to college. Danny's mind instantly drifted to Sandy . She had gotten an academic and music scholarship to Stanford University . But classes started a week ago. Too bad she was still in a coma.

Danny had never bothered, or cared to apply for any colleges. Sandy had begged him to apply for at least three schools, especially Stanford, but Danny had just kept putting it off until it was too late.

Another week went by, until it was Saturday again, and they had all gathered in the hospital again. Sonny was having a casual conversation with Doody, his hands stuffed in his pockets. They entered the lobby, and Sonny stopped dead in his tracks. Everyone else stopped, seeing that Sonny had.

"What're ya doin'?" Doody asked.

"What's wrong?" Marty asked.

"It's Old Lady Lynch!" Sonny whispered in a panic.

"What the hell is she doin' here?" Roger hid behind Doody.

"Cut it out," Sonny pulled Roger out from behind Doody.

"Calm down you guys," Jan said. "She's probably just visiting a sick friend. We don't have to say hello or anything. Just let it go,"

"You're right," Sonny said, stuffing his hands back in his pockets. They nonchalantly continued their walk into the lobby, turning the corner to where Sandy and Kenickie were.

"Mister LaTierri!"

Sonny cringed. He thought he would never have to hear that again. The eight of them slowly turned around, putting on wide smiles. Their old teacher stood up from her chair and marched straight over to them.

"Hey Miss Lynch!" Marty said. "How ya doin'?"

"Just fine, thank you," Miss Lynch said.

"Watcha doin' here?" Sonny asked.

"I came," Miss Lynch began. "To see you,"

Each of their faces changed from a plastered smiles to ones of shock and confusion.

"What?" Sonny said.

"Yes, Dominic, I came to see all of you," she said. "I'm glad to see you're all healthy…after what happened…"

"How'd you know about that?" Doody said, anger sounding in his voice.

"Me and Miss Simcox have been writing each other about her going to college and such, and this came up," Miss Lynch said. "And may I just say Dominic, I'm deeply disappointed in you,"

"What'd I do now?" Sonny said, rolling his eyes.

"You know very well what you did!" It was her turn to get angry. "You injured your friends! I knew you were a hopeless student, but I never thought you would – "

"I didn't do it!" Sonny said, aggravation growing inside of him.

"Do really expect me to believe – "

"I did it!" Rizzo shouted above their arguing. "I was driving. I injured them. I…I killed her,"

Miss Lynch's eyes widened. She looked back and forth between Sonny, who still had a defensive look on his face, and Rizzo, who was staring shamefully at the floor, her arms tightly crossed across her chest.

"I…I…" Miss Lynch began, and Jan prepared to defend Rizzo with all the strength that she had. But instead of lashing out on Rizzo as they all expected, she lost her straight posture and hardened look on her face. She sighed sadly. "I'm sorry…this is ridiculous…even if it had been you, Dominic, I had no right…"

The eight of them gave each other a shocked look, then turned their attention back to their former teacher.

"I never wanted you to learn this way…" Miss Lynch said sadly. "I know you all think I'm a witch, but there is a method to my madness…you see, this is the sort of thing I was afraid of happening to any of my students…no matter how much they despised me, or vice versa,"

They continued to stare at her, still confused.

"I'm going to tell you all something that I haven't spoken of in nearly thirty years," she said. "Why don't we all sit down,"

Although still quite confused, they all sat down in chairs in the lobby. Miss Lynch cleared her throat.

"When I was nineteen, I was driving all of my friends to a party. I took my eyes off the road for a second...and that was it. I woke up in the hospital, just to hear the news that five out of the six of my friends were dead," she paused to clear her throat again. She blinked many times in a row, and continued.

"My friend Angie had survived and came to visit me. Instead of the hug I thought I would get, she cursed at me, and told me she never wanted to see me again. I had killed her boyfriend. She didn't care that I had also killed mine, that without her I'd be alone. She walked out the door, and I never saw her again,"

She looked at the eight young people before her and noticed that Rizzo was shaking and Jan was tightly squeezing her hand. Marty was leaning into her, gently rubbing her arm, and Sonny had his arm around a red faced Doody.

"After I got out of the hospital, as soon as I was able to, I went right back to college and got my master's degree. I buried myself in my schoolwork, and then as soon as school was over I buried myself in work. I moved away from my home across the country to here, and got a job at Rydell. I put my past behind me, and I didn't look back. I did promise myself one thing though. I would teach my students, and I would make sure they never went through what I did. Clearly I failed..."

Marty and Jan sniffled, wiping tears away.

"Miss Lynch..." Jan said, grabbing her hand. "I'm so sorry..."

"No...I'm sorry," she said. "Is there anything at all I can do? Polly, that poor girl...She was…not the best student…but she had a wonderful heart. I remember when I first had her in a class I thought she was just about the most insane person I'd ever met...but I loved it. Are any of us ever sane, really?"

She stopped talking and looked up to see tears streaming down Doody's face. She put her hand on his shoulder.

"I know it hurts...I know..." she said gently. "But please tell me...please tell me you can forgive Betty...you have to...please..."

Doody nodded and Rizzo threw his arms around him. Miss Lynch smiled.

"So you've already talked about it?"

Jan nodded, being that neither Rizzo nor Doody were in any shape to answer her.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to put a damper on anything...you just had to know. As soon as Patricia told me, my past came back to haunt me," she explained. "The reason I wanted so badly for you all to succeed was because I didn't want this for you. I didn't want the way you bonded to be meeting up in the hospital to see your injured friends. I never would wish it on anyone,"

"Thanks Miss Lynch," Jan said whole-heartedly.

"Yeah...thanks..." Sonny said, trying his best to look right at her when he said it.

"You're welcome," she said, throwing a quick smile at Sonny, who quickly averted his eyes. "Now you go see your friends...I'll visit them alone. Wouldn't want to disturb you trouble-making little…"

"And there it is," Sonny said, predicting the old crabby Lynch would come back eventually. They all got up and walked down the hall, but Miss Lynch had grabbed Rizzo's hand, preventing her from following them to Sandy's room.

"Isn't Rizzo coming?" Molly asked Danny. Molly had been sitting with her parents waiting for Miss Lynch to be done speaking with them so she could say hello to them.

"She'll be along in a bit," Danny said.

Rizzo looked skeptically at the withered hand that held her own. She then looked up and Miss Lynch, who didn't seem to be planning on letting go any time soon.

"Sit, Miss Rizzo,"

And even though she no longer had authority over Rizzo now that she graduated, Rizzo obeyed instantly and quickly sat herself down.

"Let me see your wrists Miss Rizzo,"

"My- what?" her stomach lurched.

"Your wrists, Betty," she demanded. "Now,"

Rizzo swallowed hard and uncrossed her arms and held out her cut up wrists for her to see. Miss Lynch pursed her lips together and tensed up.

"Does your mother know about this?"

"No,"

"Does anyone know about this?"

"No,"

Miss Lynch released her grip on Rizzo's arms and she quickly crossed them across her chest again. There was an awkward pause, in which Rizzo's face turned bright red and she stared down in shame.

"Betty, can I tell you something?"

"Sure," she shrugged.

"Do you know what I almost did? I almost jumped off a bridge, that's what. I thought I was so clever. I thought it would solve everything. I thought I _deserved_ it," she out a strong emphasis on the word 'deserved'. She knew Rizzo was thinking she deserved those scars on her wrists. Her body started shaking with horrible anxiety. "I wondered why I wasn't dead too. Everybody else was dead. But do you know what else happened that day? A strange woman whom I'd never met was walking by with her young son, and she pulled me away from the edge made me promise I would never do it again. 'What would your mother think?' she said to me," Tears built up in Rizzo's eyes, and she began shaking all the more harder. "I promised. I did. And I never did it ever again," Rizzo was staring at her with a blank, distant look. "Do you know why I told you this? Because I know how you feel…I know the guilt, the anxiety…all of it. I want to help you Betty,"

Rizzo couldn't stand it anymore. She burst into tears and buried her face in her hands.

"I'm sorry..." Rizzo mumbled through her tears.

"For what?" Miss Lynch said, not quite understanding.

"I wasn't thinking...I won't do it again...I made a promise...I'm sorry..."

"Betty...have you...?"

"Yes!" she cried. She didn't think she could bear this any longer. "But I didn't...cuz I've gotta be here when Kenickie wakes up,"

"Good...good..." Miss Lynch said, still holding Rizzo quite awkwardly.

"But ya know what? I still wanted to die..." Rizzo said, barely able to speak anymore. "I'm sorry...I wanted to never wake up...I…I _hate_ myself…so much..." and then she couldn't get out any more words. After a long time of Rizzo trying to calm herself down, she was finally able to speak again. "I deserve them...every single one..." she said. "Nobody else will do it for me...I gotta punish myself...I just..."

"Don't you think the hell you've gone through is enough punishment?" Miss Lynch said. "I know the kind of hell you've been too. Believe me, I do. And punishing yourself will get you nowhere. Haven't you been through enough? You don't need to do this,"

"I know...I only meant to do it once...but I just kept doing it..." Rizzo was losing control again. "I don't deserve to live..."

"Yes you do!" Miss Lynch shouted. "You listen to me! You have done nothing wrong, do you hear me? Absolutely nothing! Do you want to spend the rest of your life alone, running away from your troubles? Do you want to be like _me?_" Rizzo looked up at her and saw the hatred in her eyes. "I think not! You will repeat after me: I have done nothing wrong,"

"I...have done...nothing...wrong," Rizzo managed to get out between sobs.

"I don't deserve this hell,"

"I don't...deserve this...hell..."

"I deserve to live, and I deserve to be happy,"

"I deserve to live...and...I...deserve to be..." she broke down again.

"I know...it's hard. It will be hard, I can guarantee that. But you will overcome this. Do you understand me?"

Rizzo nodded, wiping her eyes.

"Every day, you will say those exact things to yourself, until you can say it without crying, or feeling like a liar. Is that clear?"

Rizzo nodded again.

"Good," she nodded authoritatively. "Now there's one more thing I need from you,"

"What?"

Miss Lynch pulled Rizzo off her chair and into a tight embrace. Shocked, Rizzo simply stayed still, but then she found herself hugging her back.

_Me.__ Betty Rizzo...hugging Old Lady Lynch...  
_  
_It really is funny how things change..._

"Now go," Miss Lynch shooed her down the hallway.


	20. Chapter 20

_Hello there! So I have a feeling this chapter will get many reviews...oh boy..._

* * *

Rizzo had woken up early again, her heart racing from another horrible nightmare. She sat up and looked around, familiarizing herself with the room just to be sure that this was reality and not still a dream. She got out of bed and walked down the hallway to the bathroom again. She splashed her face. In the process, her eyes darted across her arms and landed on her wrists. Every part of her body wanted to do it again, but she heard Miss Lynch in the back of her mind, and in her head she saw that picture of herself that Molly drew. She splashed her face over and over, until every bad thought seemed to have been washed away.

"Ya ok, Rizz?" Jan was suddenly standing in the doorway.

"Yeah," Rizzo said. "Really, I am,"

"Good," Jan said. "Ya ever think about college?"

"Sure I do," Rizzo shrugged. "But I didn't wanna go before, and nothin' that happened changed that,"

"Well I did," Jan said. "Not right away, I would need a break. But I've always wanted to go to college, get a real nice job,"

"Like what?"

"Don't know," Jan said. "I guess that's what college'll help me decide,"

The two of them made their way down the stairs where Rizzo's mother was making them breakfast, as she usually did to give Jan's mother a break.

"Good morning girls," she said.

"Morning mom," Rizzo said.

"Betty, I found a great place for us," she said over her shoulder. "And I have enough of your father's money to pay for it, and with my job I can pay the rent,"

"Really?" Rizzo said.

"Yeah, I just wanted to take you to see it of course," she said placing the eggs in front of the two girls. "If you like it, I can start signing papers and we can move in whenever,"

"I guess," Rizzo said. "I mean, what could I possibly not like?"

"I just want to be sure," she sat down at the table with them. "It's gonna be great Betty. Our new life is gonna be great," She smiled brightly at her daughter, and Rizzo tried with all the energy she had to smile back. She gave her mother a surprisingly big smile, which made her mother smile even bigger. But Jan knew the effort that was behind that smile. Under the table she slipped her hand into Rizzo's and squeezed it. Rizzo squeezed back, nodding her head.

Then the phone rang.

"I got it," Rizzo said. She casually got up and picked up the phone. She had no idea who was on the other end, or what they had to say, or what was in store for her. If she knew who it was, she may have never answered the phone.

"Hello?"

Jan listened. She heard nothing. Rizzo then turned a frightening shade of white.

"Rizzo?"

"W-w-what?" Rizzo said, her body now beginning to shake.

Again there was silence. Then the phone dropped out of her hands. Her mouth was hanging open.

"What's wrong?" her mother said worriedly. She rushed to her daughter's side.

Rizzo opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

"What?"

Rizzo simply began crying. Her mother held her.

"Betty…what happened?" she said, her mind racing of all the horrible things that could have happened, a certain one of them being at the top of the list. "Is it…is it Kenickie…?"

Rizzo's crying became harder.

"Rizzo what's wrong with Kenickie?" Jan's heart was racing. She didn't think she could stand to lose another one.

"He…"

"Rizzo…" Jan said, her body also starting to shake. "He's not…he didn't…"

"He's…" Rizzo said, breathing as deeply as she could. "He's….awake…He's awake…He's awake!"

"What?" Jan said.

"He's awake!" Rizzo cried, throwing herself onto her mother.

"Oh, thank God!" her mother cried, holding her daughter. "Let's go, now!"

The three of them ran to the car, followed by Jan's mother. The two women sat in the front and Jan and Rizzo sat in the back.

The two of them ran into the car and her mother drove as fast as she legally could. Rizzo controlled her tears. Her entire body was shaking.

_Can't this damn car go any faster?_

"Jan…" Rizzo began. "What if he don't remember me?"

"He's got to," Jan reassured her.

"But what if he hit his head, and he can't?" Rizzo said. "If he don't remember me…"

"It's going to be alright," Jan said, squeezing Rizzo's hand tightly.

When they had finally arrived, her mother pulled up in front of the lobby and let her out. Rizzo sprinted into the lobby and ran straight to his room, having memorized where it was. Her heart was pounding and her head was racing. So many things could go wrong…

She threw the door open and froze in the doorway. She stared at the bed. His head snapped up to look at her. She watched his eyes light up with relief and joy.

"Rizzo!"

Her eyes filled up instantly. Her heart leaped higher than it ever had in months. She jumped onto the bed and threw her arms around him. She squeezed him, and held him tighter than she ever had before. She had him back. And this time she wasn't ever letting go.

Kenickie squeezed his own arms around her, and they buried their faces in each other and she had wrapped her legs around his waist. Rizzo was now in hysterics again, muffling her cries of joy into his hospital gown. Tears were rolling down his cheeks, filled with such emotion about finally seeing his Rizzo again. They lovingly rocked back and forth, not releasing each other for a solid twenty minutes. Rizzo had still not stopped crying.

"What's wrong with ya Rizz?" Kenickie teased. "I ain't dead!"

Rizzo let out a pitiful, hysterical cry and squeezed him tighter than ever. Kenickie realized the sensitivity and also held her tighter.

"It's alright," he whispered, gently kissing her head. "It's all gonna be alright. I'm here now. Calm down. It's gonna be ok,"

He kissed her head over and over. He released his grip and cupped her wet face in his hands. Rizzo's arms were still tightly wrapped around his neck, and her legs were still around his waist.

"Hey, look at me," Kenickie smiled. "See? I'm right here,"

Rizzo looked into his eyes. She hadn't seen those eyes in so long. They were staring at her with such love; she almost burst into hysterics again. But she had managed to calm herself down so that her crying was only hiccups of tears. He kissed her forehead, and then her nose, and then her lips, lightly. She returned the kiss passionately, cherishing every second. How she had missed this…

They released each others lips and she buried her face in his chest and began crying again. Kenickie buried his face in her matted dark hair and kissed her head repeatedly again. They remained that way, Rizzo crying, and Kenickie kissing her head, for so long, the two of them hardly even knew that any time was passing. Soon they had fallen fast asleep in each others arms.

* * *

Rizzo's eyes fluttered open, and she immediately felt a sense of safety and comfort. She looked up to see Kenickie looking down at her. She beamed at him and kissed him tenderly. Her legs were now unwrapped, and they were lying side by side. While Rizzo was still sleeping, Kenickie had intertwined his hand into hers, and he was gently stroking her head with his other hand. Their foreheads were touching, and for a while, they simply laid there smiling at each other.

They were just fools in love. And in that moment, it was only them. The rest of the world had disappeared. Their two broken hearts had once again found each other, and were together pumping life and love all over both of their bodies. They couldn't even think about anything but each other. Rizzo snuggled in closer to him, and Kenickie wrapped both of his arms around her.

It was heaven. Bliss. Paradise. She never thought it was possible. She thought she'd never feel love again. She thought she'd never feel _anything_ again. And now here she was, in the arms of the boy she loved, who was alive, with a beating heart, blinking eyes, and a warm breath that went down her spine, warming her entire body.

The nurse poked her head in the door.

"Sorry…" she said awkwardly. "But there are people here to see you…I didn't want to wake either of you up…"

"Send 'em in!" Kenickie said.

"Alright," the nurse smiled.

Rizzo craned her neck up and looked into his eyes, and he stared right back.

"Kenickie…" she finally spoke to him after hours of silence. "I…I thought…I don't know what I thought…does it matter?"

"Nope," he said, kissing her gently. "It don't matter, cuz here I am,"

This time she kissed him, and Rizzo laughed. She actually laughed. Then Jan, Marty, Sonny, Doody, Danny, and Roger came rushing in. Jan and Marty squealed with joy, and the three boys began shouting indistinctly. They all ran to the bed and threw themselves on top of Kenickie, burying him and Rizzo.

"Well it took ya long enough!"

"Geez, I thought ya'd never wake up!"

"Watcha been up to Sleepin' Beauty?"

"Thank God, Kenick!"

"What'd we do without ya?"

"Ya remember me, right?"

"It's about time!"

Everyone was talking all at once, nobody was really very aware of what was going on. Finally, they all got off the bed, except Rizzo.

"Gosh Kenickie where do we even start?" Marty said. "Ya missed…well…everything!"

"You guys!" Kenickie said. "Where's Sandy at? And French?"

All their smiles disappeared.

"Sandy's in a coma," Danny said sadly.

"Oh…" Kenickie said. "Sorry…"

"Frenchy's dead," Doody said flatly.

"What?" Kenickie said, shocked. Rizzo looked worriedly up at him. She buried her face in him, and he wrapped his arms around her. "It ain't your fault, Rizz," he whispered in her ear, his voice cracking. "Don't you dare," A single tear rolled down his cheek.

They sat in silence for longer than they cared to remember, and then Kenickie spoke again.

"So…what else did I miss?"

"Well…" Marty said. "Miss Lynch was here last week,"

"Old Lady Lynch?" Kenickie scoffed. "Nah, quit kiddin' around,"

"No really!" Jan said. "She told us…a story,"

Jan then told Kenickie everything that Miss Lynch had told them.

"Wow," he breathed.

"She told me she almost jumped off a bridge," Rizzo added, her voice half muffled by Kenickie's clothes.

"What?" Sonny's eyes widened.

"Yeah…" Rizzo said. "Guess what?" she looked up at Kenickie, trying to change the subject.

"What?"

"My mom left my asshole of a dad,"

"She did?" Kenickie chuckled. "'Bout time!"

"Yeah, I been livin' with Jan," Rizzo continued. "We got all his money, and mom's got a job. We're buyin' an apartment,"

"That's great, Rizz," Kenickie smiled and kissed her head.

"Patty went to college," Roger said.

"Patty…as in Patty Simcox?" Kenickie asked. "Who cares?"

"Hey she's a real cool chick," Marty said.

"Patty a cool chick?" Kenickie almost laughed. "Never thought I'd live to here that one!"

"She came to see me and Rizzo at my house," Jan said. "She came to visit you. And Sandy,"

"She did?" Kenickie said, thinking for a moment. "I never even talked to her,"

"Neither did we," Sonny said.

"Like I said," Marty restated her previous point. "She's a pretty cool chick,"

The eight of them continued to catch up on their lives.

"What's it like, bein' in a coma?" Doody asked.

"Well…" Kenickie said. "It was pretty weird. I just felt like I was sleepin', but there were times where I knew I was awake, but I couldn't move. I tried to yell and tell someone I was awake and couldn't move but…I just…couldn't talk,"

Rizzo shivered. She couldn't imagine being trapped in her own body like that.

"How bizarre," Roger said.

"Did it hurt?" Danny asked anxiously.

"Nah, not really. Just some headaches,"

"Good," Danny said.

Jan went to sit down on the bed, and accidentally sat right on Kenickie's leg.

"Geez!" Jan exclaimed, jumping up. "Sorry!"

"Sorry for what?" Kenickie asked.

"Didn't ya feel me just sit on your leg?" Jan asked, but then instantly regretted saying it. "Aw crap…I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry about it," Kenickie shrugged. Rizzo looked up at him and hugged him tightly.

"Ya really won't ever walk again?" Sonny asked.

"Nope," Kenickie said. Rizzo knew he was trying to be tough still. She knew how heartbroken he must be.

Soon, Kenickie's mother had burst in the room, crying just as Rizzo had been. She brought the news that her husband had left about a month ago and didn't come back. She was really hoping he'd never come back. And quite honestly, so was Kenickie. Kenickie had insisted that his mother go home and rest, that he was perfectly fine. Everyone else had gone home around dinner-time after spending all day with Kenickie. Only Jan and Rizzo were left.

"Jan?" Jan's mother appeared in the doorway. "You should get home,"

Jan said goodbye and left, and when Rizzo's mom had come, she saw the way they were laying.

"Do you want a change of clothes, Betty?"

"I'm fine," Rizzo said, snuggling closer to Kenickie under the blanket.

"Alright," She said. "I'll be back in the morning,"

After the door shut, Kenickie and Rizzo lie in silence for a moment.

"Rizzo?"

"Yeah?"

"I have no idea how long ago it was….or if it was even real or just a dream…but you were in here…and you kept kissin' me I think…and all I remember is you sayin' 'I love you' over and over and over,"

Rizzo looked up at him and smiled. "I meant it every time," she said. "I thought it might be the last time I ever saw ya,"

"Yeah?" he said. "Well guess what? I love you," he kissed her. "I love you," he kissed her again. "I love you, I love you, I love you," He repeated it so many times, they both lost count.

"There. Now we're even," he said, kissing her one last time. With that, he fell asleep in his arms, and he drifted off soon after.

* * *

_Ha! You thought I killed him didn't you?_


	21. Chapter 21

_Ahhh I'm so glad I made you all so happy! Here is some more Rizzo/Kenickie. It seems like it's just unneccesary drabble, but very important to the story._

* * *

The morning sun shone through the window and illuminated the pair of sleeping lovers. Kenickie slowly opened his eyes and frowned, realizing he was _still _in the hospital. Then he heard another person breathing, and he glanced down and smiled.

Kenickie looked down lovingly at the girl sleeping in his arms. Her chest rose and fell in a soothing rhythm. He smiled and gently ran his fingers through her hair. He moved his hand closer to her face, and began stroking her cheek. That was when he noticed. Her skin was so much paler than he remembered. And now that he thought about it, he didn't remember her cheekbones being so profound. He carefully lifted her arm and took his index finger and thumb and easily wrapped it around her upper arm. His brow furrowed with worry. His eyes widened as they fell on her wrists. He lifted her arm closer to his face and looked at her wrist carefully. He did the same with the other arm. Where did those come from? It looked like someone took a knife to her wrists. Unless...

His heart dropped and his stomach lurched. No...not Rizzo...He had heard of it before, but he'd never met anyone who'd ever done it. He had always thought you had to be in a really dark place to be able to do that to yourself...

Tears built up in his eyes and he carefully lifted her fragile body up higher so he could hold her close and kiss her head. He realized he was now crying as he cradled Rizzo like a baby. He had never cried before. Ever. The last time he cried was when he was nine years old and his father was drunk and dangerously close to his mother with a baseball bat.

How much pain had she been in? All this time she was in absolute misery, and there was nothing he could do about it. He wasn't there to ease her pain, to hold her while she cried, to kiss her. He wasn't there to stop her from making herself bleed...

What else had she tried?

He began crying harder as his darkest thoughts began to surface in his mind. He pushed those away, not wanting to imagine the world of pain that would exist had such a thing happened.

He held her closer and hugged her tighter, kissing her head again and again.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. What else could he do?

Nothing. It was too late now. She had already suffered.

Now he could only pray that it would be alright now that he was awake.

* * *

Kenickie had been awake for quite some time now. He really hadn't seen the point in him sleeping when he had just slept for three months straight. He was waiting for Rizzo to wake up. Soon enough, he saw her smile, and her eyes opened. She didn't even have to open her eyes to know she was with Kenickie.

"Mornin'," Kenickie said.

"Hey," she said.

"You're pretty when ya sleep," he said.

"Shut up," Rizzo said, nudging him.

"I don't think I will," he said playfully.

"Oh really?" Rizzo said, trying to sound threatening, but she couldn't help but laugh.

"So…how ya been?" Kenickie asked.

"What do ya mean?"

"I mean…all these months I been asleep…how were ya holdin' up?"

Rizzo's heart started racing faster. She didn't want to have to talk about this with Kenickie, not right now. But Rizzo knew she had come to be a terrible liar.

"I haven't,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kenickie screwed up his face in confusion.

"I haven't been holdin' up," she said simply. "Kenickie it's been awful…" she said getting choked up. "When…when Frenchy died…I felt like a murderer. It was the most disgusting thing I've ever felt. Then when Doody woke up…he blamed me, I know he did. And I just couldn't…." She started to cry now, and Kenickie held her tightly. Now that she had someone to hold her, it wasn't so difficult to go on, but it was the thing that she was talking about that made it difficult.

"I couldn't take it anymore…" she went on.

"Rizz, what'd ya do?" Kenickie asked with great worry.

"I…I tried to…" she couldn't say it. She started crying again.

Kenickie felt like he had just been shot in the chest. How awful must she have felt to do something that drastic? And he hadn't been there. It had come so close to Kenickie waking up and someone having to give him the news that Rizzo had killed herself. What would have happened to him then?

"I knew I couldn't," Rizzo continued tearfully. "I had to see ya wake up. And I did. And I'm here to stay, I promise,"

Kenickie had no words. He held her tighter, his own tears starting to surface.

"God Rizzo…" he began. "It…it ain't your fault….ya can't…it ain't your fault…" his voice cracked. Rizzo looked up at him.

"Jesus Kenick don't you cry too!" she sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm here, and I ain't goin' nowhere,"

"But I wasn't there…ya needed me…"

"Stop! Ya couldn't wake up, and it ain't your fault!" Rizzo scolded.

"But what if ya did? What if I woke up wantin; to see ya…and you…"

"Stop that!" Rizzo said, her tears coming back again. "I'm right here. There ain't nothin' in this world that is gonna make want to again. Not now that you're awake. I could never leave you. I promise,"

Kenickie nodded, trying to stop his tears. "Good. I'd lose it without ya Rizz,"

"I'm sorry…." She mumbled.

"It ain't your fault," he said again. "Ya didn't know what else to do. I get it. But I'm here now,"

"I know," Rizzo said.

They lie together for a while, their foreheads touching. She kissed him gently, then snuggled in closer to him, resting her head on his chest. His heart beat in her ears, comforting her. He stroked her head gently and savored every moment that she was with him.

"So…you're gonna be ok now?" Kenickie asked after the silence.

"Well…in some ways I will. But there are some things ya can't fix," she said. "Frenchy's still dead. Sandy's still in a coma. You still won't ever…walk…again…"

"Hey I don't mind," Kenickie said.

"Don't be stupid of course you do," Rizzo said. "And no matter what anyone says, I'm still gonna feel like it's my fault. I can't help it. I'm still gonna have nightmares…"

Kenickie's heart stung. "Well what if I stayed by ya until ya sleep? Every single night. Would that help ya sleep?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "They're usually about the night it happened…Frenchy…loosin' you…"

Kenickie sighed and kissed her head. "Well I'm right here. And I promise I'll always be here to help ya. I know I can't fix ya completely, but there are some things that I can patch up to make ya happier,"

Rizzo suddenly burned with guilt, thinking of the scars on her wrists. "I bet ya saw 'em…didn't ya?"

"Yeah I did," Kenickie said. He lifted her arm and kissed her wrist gently. He then did the same for the other arm. "I know that won't do much, but hey, whatever works,"

Rizzo's eyes filled with tears. "God, I love you,"

"I love you,"

They held each other for a while, then Rizzo spoke again.

"Can ya do that again?"

"Sure,"

Kenickie kissed her wrists again. "I'll do it every day if that's what it takes. We're gonna kick this together,"

* * *

_Wweothaey;alkgj so cute!_


	22. Chapter 22

_Hello all! Sorry for the long wait! I've had auditions and callbacks and finals for the past couple of weeks! But here is a new chapter! Same author, different penname! Have to admit this chapter is a little boring but needed to be done. Please review!_

* * *

It was mid-September and Kenickie was still bound to his hospital bed. Rizzo now visited the hospital daily, with the others coming with her on Saturdays. Rizzo's birthday was coming up, and if Kenickie hadn't brought it up, she would have completely forgotten.

"So, ya want anything special this year?" he had said to her.

"What are ya talkin' about?" Rizzo asked.

"For your birthday," Kenickie said.

"Oh," Rizzo said, remembering that her birthday was actually a week from today. "Nothing. Really,"

"Ya sure?"

"You wakin' up was my present this year," Rizzo said. "Besides ya can't exactly go anywhere right now,"

"You're right," Kenickie said with a smile. "I can't go nowhere,"

That Saturday, everyone else had joined Rizzo at the hospital. Rizzo was about to say goodbye to Kenickie when she heard voice coming from his room.

"…and whatever ya do, don't tell Rizzo," Kenickie's voice sounded through the door. Rizzo froze outside the door.

"I swear, I won't say nothin'," Danny said.

"Thanks man," Kenickie said.

"No problem," Danny said. "Hey, if anything changes…let me know,"

"Sure thing,"

Rizzo ran behind the corner and waited for Danny to get closer before she walked towards Kenickie's door, pretending she hadn't heard a thing.

"Hey Rizz," Danny said. Rizzo waved and opened Kenickie's door, her heart pounding nervously. She and Kenickie told each other everything. What could he want to keep from her? Unless it was something bad…what if he was dying and he just didn't want to tell her?

"Hey Rizzo," Kenickie said cheerily. "How ya doin'?"

"I'm alright I guess," Rizzo said, despite that she was far from alright. "You?"

"Not too bad," Kenickie said. "You're quiet today. Why?"

"I'm not quiet," Rizzo answered, a little too quickly. "I'm just tired,"

"Bull," he said. "What's buggin' ya?"

"Nothing," Rizzo said. "I'm fine,"

"Rizz, you ain't gonna get better if ya don't tell me what's – "

"I'm fine alright!" Rizzo snapped. Kenickie shut his mouth. "Look I'm not feelin' too good…I gotta go…"

"Wait, Rizzo – "

But she had already shut the door angrily.

* * *

"Betty you're home early," Jan's mom said as Rizzo stormed upstairs. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine," she said as she shut the door to Jan's room.

"Rizzo, what're ya doin' home?" Jan asked, startled by Rizzo's sudden entrance.

"Something's wrong with Kenickie…"

"What?" Jan's eyes widened. "What's wrong?"

"I wasn't supposed to hear…and I didn't mean to be listening…it just kinda happened…"

"Rizzo what's wrong?"

"I went to visit him…and Danny was in there already…I heard Kenickie say 'Whatever ya do, don't tell Rizzo'," she said her heart pounding with worry.

"Well…" Jan said. "That doesn't mean it's somethin' bad…"

"Of course it does!" Rizzo said. "He's in the hospital!"

"Alright just calm down," Jan said. Rizzo took a deep breath. "If it was something bad, he would have told you. You guys tell each other everything,"

"What if he just doesn't want to hurt me?" Rizzo said. "He thinks he's doin' me a favor by keepin' me in the dark, but it's killin' me! If something is wrong I want to know!"

"Maybe you should talk to him," Jan suggested.

"I don't want him to know I was listening," Rizzo said. Jan raised her eyebrows. "Well, I don't want to worry him either!" she added quickly.

"So you're doing the same thing he's doing," Jan said. "Rizz, if it's really buggin' ya, ya gotta talk to him,"

"I can't," Rizzo said.

Jan sighed. "Well, then ya won't ever know,"

"Until it's too late…" Rizzo said, her heart racing again.

For the rest of the day, Rizzo thought about what Jan had said. She visited Kenickie for an entire week without saying a thing. Kenickie hadn't said anything, but he noticed that she seemed different. She always stuttered and shook, and her skin was paler then usual. One day, Kenickie had seen Rizzo's wrist and had become quite distressed.

"Rizzo, I been tryin' to leave ya alone, but something's wrong with ya," he said grabbing her wrist. "I thought were tryin' to stop – "

"I was!" Rizzo exploded. "I'm worried sick, Kenickie! I heard ya talkin' to Danny! I know something's up! Why didn't ya tell me? I care about ya don't ya know that? I've been wantin' to throw up all week because I been so worried about ya!"

"Is that what this is all about?" Kenickie said. "Listen Rizzo, nothing's wrong! I just – "

"That's a lie!" Rizzo shouted. "Don't ya know I wanna help ya? Why are ya doin' this to me? Don't ya know what'll happen if…if ya leave me…?"

"Rizzo, I ain't lyin'!" Kenickie said. "Just listen to me – "

"I'm sorry…" Rizzo said walking out the room. "I just can't be around you right now,"

"Rizzo, please you're – "

And the door was shut again.

* * *

Rizzo was walking home as she usually did; being that no one could drive her. She constantly wiped her eyes and sniffled. There were dark clouds beginning to form in the sky, threatening rain. Her head was heated with anger, but instead of shouting and lashing out, her body simply just withered. In her head she was screaming and throwing things, but she didn't have the energy anymore. She walked towards Jan's house, but then stopped. Did she really want to go home just to have people ask her why she was crying? Did she really want to have to explain herself, only to end up crying some more?

She turned around and walked back to the corner of the street and turned. She had no idea where she was going, but anywhere where there was no one to bother her was a good place to be at the moment.

She kept walking down the sidewalk until she came to a busy street. She stopped and looked around at the cars rushing back and forth, and the people running this way and that way, pulling children or dogs, pushing strollers or shopping carts.

She stood there for a while watching the world continue to live, even though her own world had stopped months ago. People stared in confusion at the thin and pale girl just standing on the street corner; children pointed. Soon, small droplets of rain began to fall, and people started to run to wherever it is they were going. Rizzo still stood there, figuring it would only be a drizzle. But as the rain came down harder and harder, she realized she was quite wrong. She turned around and headed towards Jan's house again, and the rain started to pour. People were still running, but Rizzo just walked through the rain. Rizzo used to love rain. Then it had become a curse. Then an assistant in murder. Then a reminder.

She reached Jan's house and stepped inside dripping wet.

"Betty!" Jan's mom said. "You're soaking wet!"

"Rizzo, did you walk home?" Jan asked. "Why don't ya just…" Jan stopped herself, knowing perfectly well why she didn't just drive.

"Jan, get her into dry clothes, would you?" her mother said, and Jan nodded. She brought Rizzo upstairs and gave her a pair of pajamas from Rizzo's bag of things from her dad's house.

"You're lucky it's still kinda warm out," Jan said when Rizzo was changed. Jan then noticed Rizzo's vacant expression. "What's wrong?" Rizzo shook her head, not wanting to say anything about her and Kenickie's argument.

"Is it about Kenickie?" Jan said. Rizzo nodded. He had barely been awake for a month, and they had already started fighting. "Is everything alright?"

Rizzo shook her head and hugged her knees, resting her chin on her knees. "He's hidin' something from me…it's gotta be really bad…"

Jan bit her lip. She wrapped her arms around Rizzo, not knowing what to say. Jan thought she knew what was wrong, but now she wasn't sure of anything anymore.


	23. Chapter 23

_Sorry for the long wait! I got kind of stuck writing this, but here ya go! Please review!_

* * *

Rizzo went back to the hospital even though the last thing she wanted to do was be around Kenickie. She knew he needed her, and if she was to be honest with herself she needed him too.

Her mother had quickly wished her a happy birthday and went to work. Jan wasn't in her room, and her mother didn't say where she went. If Rizzo's mother hadn't brought it up, Rizzo wouldn't have even remembered it was her birthday.

Rizzo arrived at the hospital and went straight to Kenickie's room. She opened the door and stepped in. Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion. There were balloons attached to Kenickie's bed. Before she could say anything, the whole gang popped out from behind Kenickie's bed, including, much to Rizzo's surprise, Patty.

"Surprise!"

Rizzo stood there dumbfounded. What the hell was this?

"Happy birthday Rizzo!" Patty came running towards her and she threw her arms around Rizzo.

"What the hell?" Rizzo said when Patty released her.

"It's a party, Rizz!" Kenickie said. "For you!"

"Wait…" Rizzo said, piecing things together in her mind.

"That's what he's been hidin'!" Jan said.

"So…you ain't gonna die?" Rizzo asked.

Kenickie burst out laughing. "Ya couldn't get rid of me if ya wanted to!"

Rizzo allowed herself to smile. "You stupid jerk…" she rushed to Kenickie's bed and threw her arms around him.

"I still can't believe the hospital let us do this," Marty said.

"We all pitched in and got ya a real nice cake," Jan said.

"And the balloons!" Patty added.

"And I got ya something too," Kenickie said. Danny handed him a small box.

"But…how…?"

"I gave Danny the money and he got it for me," Kenickie said.

"No…Kenickie I don't want it, whatever it is," Rizzo said. "Ya have hospital bills to pay,"

"If I wanna give my girl a birthday present I will," Kenickie handed her the box.

"No," Rizzo put the box down on Kenickie's nightstand. "You'll bring it back and use the money to pay the hospital,"

"Are ya really gonna make me open it for ya?" Kenickie said, taking the box in his hands.

"Kenickie please…" Rizzo said. "I mean it…" He started to open the box. "I'll bring it back Kenickie, I swear…" The box was completely opened and Rizzo gasped. "Jesus, Kenickie!" Inside was a beautiful necklace.

"I try to do somethin' nice and ya don't appreciate it?" Kenickie said.

"No…it really is beautiful," Rizzo said. "But I just can't let ya do this. You need the money,"

"What else am I gonna do with it?" Kenickie said.

"Pay the hospital!" Rizzo said.

"Aw c'mon Rizz!" Kenickie said. "You're gonna break my fragile heart?"

"Don't," Rizzo said.

"I went through all this trouble to make your birthday special, and you're gonna just throw it away?" Rizzo rolled her eyes. "Look," he said, in a much lower voice. "Ya don't think I know how tough things have been for ya? Ya don't think I know how miserable you are?" Rizzo stared at the floor. "Hey, look at me," he cupped her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. "Ya don't have to keep it if ya don't want to. But there ain't much else I could do to help ya. I'm doin' the best I can. Now take the damn necklace,"

Rizzo chuckled softly and took the necklace in her hands. "Thank you, Kenickie," Rizzo said. She allowed him to put it on her neck.

"It looks great on ya," Kenickie said.

Rizzo shook her head and rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up," she kissed him quickly and then remembered everyone else was still there. "So are we just gonna stare at this cake or what?"

Everyone laughed. Sonny lit the candles, and everyone began singing.

"Guys…cut it out…" Rizzo's face turned bright red as they all continued singing. "No guys, really…"

Kenickie only began singing louder, right in Rizzo's ears. Rizzo slapped him on the arm, and he slapped her back playfully. When they finished, Sonny lowered the cake so Rizzo could blow out the candles.

"Don't forget to make a wish," Jan said.

"Yeah, yeah," Rizzo said. She closed her eyes for a moment, and then blew out the candles. Everyone clapped.

"What'd ya wish?" Marty asked.

"She can't say," Sonny thumped Marty on the head. "Then it won't come true,"

They all ate cake and laughed together, just like old times. Suddenly, in the middle of their fun, the doctor opened the door.

"Sorry…" he said awkwardly. "Didn't mean to interrupt anything…"

"Well, say what ya gotta say so we can continue," Kenickie said.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that you're clear to leave the hospital now, whenever you're ready,"

"Ya kiddin'?" Kenickie said.

"Um no," the doctor laughed and left the room.

Rizzo threw her arms around Kenickie. "My wish came true," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

"Did it now?" Kenickie said, kissing her cheek.

They continued their fun conversation until Kenickie's mom arrived, having gotten a phone call from the doctors. She and Kenickie decided it best if Kenickie went home tomorrow, for now it was already late. They kept going until the nurses were complaining about the loud noise and insisted that they all go home. Rizzo hugged them and thanked them individually. She gave Patty a bit longer hug, for she was off to college again in the morning.

When everyone had left, Rizzo sat back down on Kenickie's bed and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Thanks Kenick," she said. "For everything,"

"No, thank you for wishin' me outta this place," he said. "If I keep just starin' at the same white walls I'm gonna go nuts,"

Rizzo laughed. "Are ya scared?"

"Scared of what?"

"Ya know…to go home again, after everything changed?" she swallowed. "To…to have to use a wheelchair for the rest of your life?"

"Ya know, I really hadn't thought about it," he said. "It had always been something that I would just get to when it got here. But now it's here…and it's real. It's really happening,"

Rizzo cringed at the pain in his voice. "I'm sorry…"

"How many times do I gotta tell ya, it ain't your fault," Rizzo opened her mouth, but didn't make any noise. Arguing usually didn't get her anywhere. "It just…kinda sucks I guess. But hey, I'll get over it right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Rizzo said. Although, this was quite different from all the other things Kenickie had to "get over". "I guess I'd better head home. My mom probably wants to do something with me for my birthday," Rizzo had never understood the big hype over birthdays. It's just another day; a regular day that you just happened to be born on.

"Happy birthday Rizz," Kenickie gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"Yeah, yeah," Rizzo said, returning the kiss and walking out of the room. She walked to the lobby to find her mother waiting there for her.

"How was your party?" she asked when Rizzo got in the car.

"You knew?" Rizzo asked.

"Of course I did," she said.

"Oh. Well it was fun," Rizzo said. "Kenickie's gettin' out of the hospital tomorrow,"

"Is he really?" her mother said excitedly. "That's wonderful,"

They drove and drove, until Rizzo realized something wasn't right.

"Mom, wasn't Jan's house back there?" Rizzo asked. Her mother stayed silent. "Mom?"

They continued driving in silence. "Mom, where are you taking us?" She still wouldn't answer. Finally, her mother stopped the car in front of a tiny little house.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Rizzo got out of the car and followed her mother toward the house. "I thought we were going home,"

"We are home," her mother beamed, opening the front door.

"Wait…is this the place?"

"Yeah," her mom said. "It's our home now, Betty,"

She flipped on a light switch and there was a small room. There was a wooden floor and white walls. To their right was an oven, a fridge, and some counters, along with a square table covered with a blue tablecloth with two wooden chairs. To their left was a blue couch and a small table with a small radio on it. On the floor below the couch and the little table was a blue rug.

"It's not much, but it's all I could afford," her mother said.

"No mom…" Rizzo said. "It's really great,"

"Of course we'll paint the walls eventually, blue I was thinking, to match the rug and the couch, and the tablecloth,"

"Mom, it really is great," Rizzo turned and hugged her mom. "Thanks a lot, Mom,"

"You're welcome," she said. "Do you want to see your room?"

Rizzo nodded, and she was led toward one of three doors. She opened the door and flipped on the light. This room had the same wooden floor, but there was a light red rug covering the floor. Against the wall in the corner was a mattress with light red sheets. "I know red is your favorite color," her mother said. "All I could afford at the moment was the mattress, but you'll have a whole bed soon,"

There was also a wooden dresser against the wall. "I put all your clothes in there for you. That box in the corner has all your other things in it. I wasn't sure where you would want them, so you could arrange it however you want,"

Her mother then showed her the bathroom, then her own room. "So you like it?" she asked.

"I love it," Rizzo said, hugging her mother again. "Thank you so much, for everything,"

"I love you,"

"I love you too, Mom,"

They then each ate a cupcake at the table in the front room. "Our first meal in our new house," her mom said. Rizzo smiled. "Happy birthday, Betty,"


	24. Chapter 24

_Hello! Remember to leave suggestions if you have any. Enjoy!_

* * *

The next morning Rizzo's mother drove Rizzo to the hospital. When Rizzo got to Kenickie's room, Kenickie's mom was already there, along with the doctor and the nurse.

"Are you ready?" the doctor asked Kenickie.

"I been ready for months now, doc," Kenickie said impatiently. The doctor chuckled. There was a wheelchair sitting by Kenickie's bed. The doctor and the nurse lifted Kenickie off the bed and carefully placed him in the wheelchair. Kenickie sat there, still as stone.

"Are you alright?" his mother said.

"Yeah…" he said. "I'm good…"

Rizzo knew what was wrong. He had known all along he wouldn't be able to walk, but it had just hit him. Having to be lifted out of bed and into a wheelchair must have really made him realize. Rizzo was the only one who could really read Kenickie. Sometimes it was hard, but this time, it was as easy as reading a book. The doctor asked to speak with his mother alone, and Rizzo wheeled him out of the room.

"Ya never have to see those walls again, Kenick," Rizzo said.

Kenickie chuckled. "Good thing,"

"Hey," Rizzo whispered. She moved herself to the front of his chair so they were looking at each other. "You sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine,"

"No you ain't," Rizzo said. "I know you just as well as you know me. You knew I wasn't fine the same way I know you aren't fine. What's wrong?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, seeming to be getting frustrated. "It's just…when they lifted me…it really hit me…I ain't ever walkin' again…I won't be able to do anything by myself; I'll always need someone there to help me do just about everything…I…"

His voice suddenly stopped and he bit his lip, his eyes watering. Rizzo's heart broke and she threw her arms around him. "It's gonna be ok…" she whispered in his ear. "You're gonna be ok…I promise…it's gonna be hard, I know, but it's all gonna turn out right, I promise…"

Rizzo wanted to apologize to him so badly, but he would only get more upset for blaming herself. Soon Kenickie's mother came out of the room and Kenickie instantly brightened up.

"What'd the doc say?" Kenickie asked.

"Just some things about physical therapy, and things I'll have to help you with," his mother sighed.

"Alrighty then," Kenickie said. "Let's go, old lady,"

She rolled her eyes and smiled, and pushed Kenickie's wheelchair into the lobby. Rizzo's mother followed Kenickie's mother home. They got to the house and Kenickie's mother made dinner for the four of them. Kenickie was going through the motions, getting frustrated every time he needed something he couldn't reach. It was quite a strange experience for him. His legs were there, he could see them, but it was as if they simply ceased to exist.

* * *

It was Saturday again, and after their visit to the hospital, Danny promised Molly ice cream because she had gotten a hundred on her spelling test. When Danny arrived at the hospital, earlier than the rest of the gang, like usual, Molly wasn't waiting there to run to him like she usually was. Assuming they were just running late, Danny just went straight to Sandy's room. But when he opened the door, Sandy's family was standing there, the doctor speaking to them. Molly was looking up, back and forth between all of the adults around her, worry clouding her usually cheery face.

"What's goin' on?" Danny asked worriedly. He noticed the tears on Sandy's mother's face.

"I'm taking Molly outside," her mother said, taking the confused little girl by the hand and walking out the door.

"I was just explaining a very tough situation to Sandy's parents," the doctor said. "Sandy's become braid dead,"

Danny swallowed hard. "What?"

"Everything in her body is functioning properly except her brain," the doctor said sadly.

"So, what does that mean?" Danny said.

"Well, it means that she's dead…but in her case, there is a chance that her brain could recharge, causing her to wake up,"

Danny's heart stopped beating. Sandy was dead? A lump formed in his throat and tears clouded his vision. "But…she could still wake up right?"

"Yes, there's a slight chance that she'll wake up. We're doing all that we can," the doctor said. "I'm very sorry,"

"When will we know…if she'll make it?" her father asked.

"It can be any random moment. Any day, at any time," the doctor said. With that he disappeared from the room. Sandy's father also left, leaving Danny alone with Sandy. Danny stood there frozen. Was he in a room with a dead body? Or was she still alive? He sat down by her bedside and took her hand in his. The tears he had been holding back came out, and he broke down right there.

After several minutes of crying, he stopped himself and realized: she could still wake up. There was still a tiny sliver of hope that she would wake up. He closed his eyes and brought her hand to his face.

"Please let her wake up…" he prayed. "Please…I been triyin' to be a good guy in these past couple of months…her parents ain't done nothin'…that kid…that little girl needs her sister...I need her…I love her…please…"

He kissed Sandy's head and rushed out to tell the doctor not to tell any of the others. Rizzo would get herself absolutely sick with guilt, and everybody else would simply become so distraught they wouldn't know what to do. It was best to wait until she woke up…if she was to wake up at all…

No. He had to keep telling himself that she would wake up or he would lose it. He returned to her side and continued to hold her hand.

"If you're listening…" he said. "I love ya Sandy…I really do…ya gotta try…ya gotta wake up, alright? Use all the strength ya got. I know you can do it,"

* * *

_Sorry for putting you all in such suspense! Will Sandy live or die? You'll find out in the next chapter!_

_Sorry, that was a bit cheesy...just keep reading! I know it's a long story but I just have so much more to say! Thanks for sticking with me so long!_


	25. Chapter 25

Danny sat by Sandy's bedside. It was Friday. On Saturday, the doctor had told him if Sandy didn't wake up in a week, she wouldn't wake up at all. It was Friday, and she still wasn't awake. In nearly twenty four hours, the doctor was to pull the plug that was keeping her alive.

Every day that week, Danny had tried to urge her awake. He tried to get her finger to move like it had that one time, but this time, nothing was working. The situation seemed pretty hopeless. His head knew that she was dead, that she really wasn't going to wake up, but something else was telling him that there was still a chance for her. He chose not to listen to his head. He needed some sanity, and clinging to hope was all he had.

He stayed with her that night, for that might have been the last time he ever lay with her. His dreams were full of nightmares about losing her.

The next morning, he woke up and glanced at Sandy, she still wasn't awake. He looked at the clock. If she didn't wake up in four hours, the plug would be pulled. Once again, Danny tried urging her awake, but nothing was working. Soon, Molly had arrived.

"Is she awake?" she asked.

"Not yet," Danny said, trying not to sound too miserable in front of the girl. "Should be any minute now though,"

"Good," Molly said. "I've got so much to tell her!"

Danny looked at the hope in the little girl's eyes and wanted to cry. She was so sure that her sister would wake up…what would happen when she didn't?

"Come one Sandy," Molly said, shaking her sister's arm. "Ya gotta wake up soon. I really miss you!"

Danny had to turn away so that Molly wouldn't see the tears.

An hour went by. Then two. Then three.

Sandy was still not awake.

By that time, the gang had arrived, and they were all making their way to Sandy's room, like usual. They all stopped when they saw Danny holding Molly as she cried.

* * *

Danny was sitting outside with Molly while her parents said their goodbyes.

"Danny, what's happening?" Molly asked innocently.

"Molly…" Danny began. "Something…something happened…in Sandy's brain…she…she isn't gonna wake up Molly…"

"What do you mean?" Molly said, fear clouding her young face. "You said she would wake up any minute now,"

"It's not what I thought," Danny said, a lump forming in his throat and tears clouding his vision.

"But…she is gonna wake up right?" Molly asked. "Just not today?"

"No Molly," Danny said. "Sandy isn't gonna wake up…ever…"

"But…but…you said…" Molly said, tears building up. "You said it would all be ok…you said she would wake up…"

"I'm sorry Molly…"

"No!" Molly shouted. "You said! You said it would be ok! You said! Mommy said! Daddy said! Rizzo said! They promised me! She has to wake up!"

"Molly listen," Danny said firmly. "Sometimes, things happen, and we don't know why. We thought Sandy would wake up, and she didn't. How were we supposed to know?"

"But…you said…" Molly said, and the tears became uncontrollable. Danny pulled the sobbing girl into a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry Molly…" he said. "I'm so sorry…"

* * *

"What's goin' on?" Jan asked worriedly.

"I don't know…" Roger answered. He looked at the scene that was happening down the hall. "It sure don't look good…"

"I ain't ever seen Danny like that…" Marty said. "Ya don't think…"

"No…it can't be…" Sonny said, although he too was beginning to fear the worst.

Rizzo's stomach churned. _It can't be true…_

Kenickie grabbed Rizzo's hand and she squeezed his. They all began walking towards Danny and Molly and Rizzo pushed Kenickie's chair, starting to feel light in the head.

"Is…Is everything alright?" Sonny asked.

Danny looked up at all his friends around him. Molly continued sobbing into his shoulder. His eyes were red.

"Oh God…" Jan said nervously. "Sandy ain't…"

Danny picked up Molly and stood up. He glanced at the clock on the wall. "If she don't wake up in fifteen minutes…that's it…"

"So she could still wake up?" Rizzo said, her heart pounding. Everything around her was spinning.

"It ain't gonna happen," Danny spat. "She's…she's dead,"

Jan buried her face in Roger. Marty slapped her hand over mouth and Sonny quickly put his arm around her. Rizzo couldn't remember the last time she had felt so much pain…She _killed_ her…she was a murderer…_again_…her chest was tightening…it was getting harder and harder to breathe…everything was starting to get black…

Rizzo dropped to the floor in a dead faint. Everyone gasped, and Sonny dropped to his knees and tried to shake her awake.

"Can we get some help over here?" Sonny called. A doctor rushed over and they lifted Rizzo away on a stretcher. Everyone was about to follow them, but just then, Sandy's parents came out of the room, their eyes red and puffy. Sandy's mother took the now asleep Molly in her arms. She whispered something to Danny and pulled him into a tight embrace. Her husband then did the same. She then became hysterical again and her husband wrapped his arms around her and rushed her down the hall. Danny entered Sandy's room, and everyone followed, Doody pushing Kenickie's chair.

Ten minutes. Ten minutes until Sandy was officially pronounced dead. Danny sat down by her bedside. Jan and Marty had become hysterical at this point, and all the boys had silent tears streaming down their faces. Danny was just sitting there with his eyes closed, holding Sandy's hand to his face.

With five minutes to go, the doctor and the nurse arrived, prepared to pull the plug. The five minutes passed by like five seconds, and Danny's body had begun to shake. The doctor bent down to unplug the machine.

But then something incredible happened.

"Wait!" Danny cried, causing the doctor to freeze.

"What's wrong?" the doctor said.

"She…she…" Danny stared at Sandy's hand. "She dug her nails into my face,"

"Does that mean she's wakin' up?" Roger asked.

"Well let's see," the doctor said.

"Sandy, do that again. Move your hand," Danny urged her. Her hand squeezed Danny's. "She squeezed my hand!" Danny beamed. "She's gonna wake up!"

Everyone held their breath and waited for her eyes to open.

"Come on Sandy," Danny urged. "Think as hard as ya can. Come on. You can do it. Squeeze my hand again. Over and over," She kept squeezing his hand.

"Look!" Jan said. "Her other hand is movin'!"

"Come on Sandy!" Danny said. "You can do it!"

Then it stopped. Both of her hands stopped moving. "Sandy?" Danny's voice cracked "What happened?" he demanded.

"Well, her brain could have stopped again…" the doctor said.

"No…Come on Sandy…" he said, tears forming in his eyes. "Come on Sandy, please…"

Just then, she squeezed his hand again and her eyes popped open. Everyone's breath stopped again.

"Sandy?" Danny said, his heart pounding nearly out of his chest.

"Danny?" a cracked voice whispered.

"Sandy!" Danny cried. He lied down next to her and held her, tears of absolute joy streaming down his face.

"Thank God!" Jan sighed. They all joined the embrace on her bed, all besides Kenickie. The doctor ran out of the room to find the girl's family.

Sandy's parents came running, and everyone moved out of the way. Both of them were hysterical.

"Mom, Dad!" Sandy said embracing her parents.

"I knew it!" Molly said. "I knew you'd wake up! They said you wouldn't, but I knew all along!"

"Molly!" Sandy pulled her little sister into a tight embrace.

"I missed you!" Molly said.

"I missed you too," Sandy said, kissing Molly's head.


	26. Chapter 26

_Finally! A long chapter! Enjoy and please review! Glad you all liked the last chapter so much!_

* * *

They all talked with Sandy and her family for a long while, until Molly fell asleep and the three of them left to give the kids some privacy.

"Do ya know how close they were to pullin' the plug?" Danny asked her.

"Yeah I do," Sandy shuddered. "I was able to hear everything that was going on for an hour or so…it was terrifying…everyone was crying…and then when I knew they were going to pull it…I had to do something…I used all the strength I could get and I dug my nails into someone's skin,"

"That was my face," Danny laughed.

"Sorry," Sandy said.

"Hey, you're here, you're awake," Danny said. "That's all that matters,"

"But it was the strangest thing…" Sandy said thoughtfully. "I was awake, but I wasn't…"

"I know that feeling," Kenickie said.

"What happened to you?" Sandy asked.

"I was in a coma too," Kenickie said. "I woke up the beginning of this month,"

"Wow," Sandy said.

Kenickie then remembered: "Rizzo's still out of it…I gotta check on her…" Kenickie wheeled himself out to see if Rizzo was alright.

"What's wrong with Rizzo?" Sandy asked worriedly.

"When she thought you were…" Jan said. "Well, ya know…she fainted,"

"Oh my God," Sandy gasped. "And Kenickie…"

"He got paralyzed," Doody said. "He won't ever walk again,"

"Oh no," Sandy said sadly. "How awful," She then looked around again. "And where's Frenchy? Is she in a coma or something?"

They all looked at each other.

"No," Marty said sadly.

"What happened?" Sandy said worriedly. "She didn't…"

They all nodded.

"Oh…oh my God…" Danny wrapped his arms around her. "She…she was just…"

Sandy broke down in Danny's embrace. "How long ago did it happen?"

"It happened three days after the accident," Jan sniffled.

"She's been gone this long?" Sandy said. "I…I just can't believe it…"

"We all really miss her," Doody said blankly. Sandy reached up and took his hand. He squeezed it and she squeezed back.

* * *

Kenickie entered the room that Rizzo was lying in. Nobody had gotten her to wake up yet. Kenickie sat by her and gently urged her awake. Expecting her not to respond, he sighed and sat back in his chair. But then Rizzo started tossing and turning as if in a horrible nightmare.

"Rizzo?" Kenickie asked. She continued to roll about. Panic began to wash over him. It terrified him to see her like that. "Rizz, wake up!" Kenickie shook her awake violently.

She gasped loudly as her eyes flashed open, filled with tears. "No…" she whispered.

"It's ok," Kenickie said, reaching for her hand. "It was just a dream – "

"No…" Rizzo jerked away from his touch. "It was real…I killed her…"

"What…?" Kenickie said. "Oh! No! Rizzo listen!"

"No…I killed her…" Rizzo began sobbing. "I…I'm sorry…"

"Rizzo listen to me – "

"No…" Rizzo's entire body burned with incredible hatred. "Just let me die…"

"Rizzo, Sandy ain't dead!" Kenickie said, willing to say anything to stop her from talking the way she was. "She woke up, right after ya passed out,"

"W…what?" Rizzo mumbled.

"Sandy's awake," Kenickie said again. "She's alive Rizzo,"

"She…she is?" Rizzo said in disbelief. Kenickie nodded. "Oh thank God…" Rizzo threw her arms around Kenickie and started crying again. She cried for the terror that had overtaken her, she cried joyfully for the now awake Sandy, and she cried for the girl that she did kill. When she had cried all her tears, she stayed in Kenickie's arms.

"You sure you're ok?" Kenickie said. "That was some fall ya took,"

"I'm fine," Rizzo said. "I wanna see Sandy," Although she knew Kenickie wouldn't lie to her, she wanted to see Sandy awake, talking with everyone, just to be sure.

The doctor said she would be fine to leave, as long as she no longer felt dizzy. Rizzo got in Kenickie's lap and he wheeled himself to Sandy's room. Rizzo got off his lap and opened the door.

"Rizzo!" Sandy said cheerfully.

"Sandy!" Rizzo ran to Sandy and threw her arms around her. Sandy was a bit shocked, having never seen Rizzo really hug anyone besides Kenickie, but then she realized Rizzo had changed, and she returned the embrace.

"I'm so happy you're awake," Rizzo said, still hugging her. "I'm sorry…"

"No!" Sandy said. "It isn't your fault,"

They released each other and Rizzo got off Sandy's bed.

"So, what's happened all this while?" Sandy asked.

"Well…" Danny said. "Miss Lynch came here, and so did Patty,"

"Really?" Sandy said. "Why on Earth would they – "

"Patty turned into a great chick," Jan said. "She hasn't lost some of her…bubbly qualities, but she's pretty fun to hang out with,"

"Really?" Sandy said. "Now what about Miss Lynch?"

"What a story that is," Danny said, and he explained Miss Lynch's story.

"Oh my God…" Sandy said when Danny had finished. "How awful…"

* * *

The next day, everyone had returned to the hospital. Jan had called Patty as soon as the news was heard, and Patty said she would try her best to get there as soon as possible.

When Rizzo arrived in Sandy's room with Kenickie, Sandy's family was in there, and Sandy was playing a card game with Molly.

"Ha!" Molly cried. "That means I win!"

"Hey!" Sandy said. "That isn't fair!"

"Yeah it is!" Molly said. "I won fair and square see?"

"Oh, well I guess you did," Sandy said.

"Ha!" Molly said again.

Rizzo laughed as she entered the room.

"Rizzo!" Molly said, getting off Sandy's bed to run and hug her.

"Hey Squirt," Rizzo said.

"Danny is taking me for ice cream later," Molly said. "Can you come? Please?"

"I'll see what I can do," Rizzo said.

"So maybe?" Molly said.

"Yes, maybe," Rizzo laughed.

"Yay!" Molly said.

"Come on Molly," her mother said. "Let's leave Sandy and her friends alone,"

"No, mom," Molly said. "They're my friends too. I always play with them,"

"Molly," her mother said. "Sandy needs privacy. You're going to be with them later,"

"I guess you're right," Molly said. "Bye guys,"

"Bye," they all said in unison.

Soon, the whole gang was there.

"When ya gettin' out?" Sonny asked.

"I don't know," Sandy said. "I wish they'd tell me what's going on…"

"I'm sure you'll know soon," Jan reassured her.

Time went by, and then the doctor poked his head in. "You have another visitor,"

"Oh, who?" Sandy asked.

"Sandy!" cried a voice that was unmistakably Patty Simcox. She ran in the room and threw herself on Sandy. "I'm so happy to see you awake!"

"Hey Patty," Sandy said, a bit uncomfortably. "I'm happy to see you too,"

"I've missed you so much!" Patty said, still not letting go of her.

"I've missed you too," Sandy said. Patty finally let go of Sandy, and Sandy was quite weary if everyone was right about her. But as time went on and they made conversation, Sandy knew that Patty had changed; and for the better. She actually enjoyed her company.

It was so strange to see so much change around her. It felt like she had only been gone about a day, meanwhile everyone turned into different people. There were still pieces of the old friends that she knew before the accident, of course, but there were things that she noticed. For instance, Doody was so much quieter than he used to be. Danny was more compassionate and emotional. Jan and Marty really hadn't changed much; they just both seemed wiser, which was the same for Roger and Sonny.

But, it was in Rizzo and Kenickie whom she had seen the most change. Rizzo was quieter. She seemed frail and fragile, emotionally and physically. She hadn't remembered her being so thin. She was jumpy, and at times when you talked to her, she would stare off somewhere and then snap back unexpectedly. Sandy didn't know if anyone else saw, but when Rizzo thinks nobody is looking, she changes. She looks more worn out, she stares ahead of her blankly, and in her eyes is an emptiness that Sandy had never seen before. But then, as soon as she's spoken to, she changes back to normal.

Sandy was pretty sure Kenickie saw it, too. He knew Rizzo best after all. At first Sandy thought Kenickie really hadn't changed, but it was the little things he did that led her to believe he was different. The way he held Rizzo's hand, the way he looked at her with concern every time she would space out. Sometimes he would even nudge her lightly so he wouldn't have to see her look so miserable. And Sandy also noticed the sad frustration in Kenickie's eyes every time he went to do something that required the use of his legs.

All this change was enough to deal with, not to mention the fact that Frenchy was gone forever. Everyone else had lost her months ago. Sandy had only lost her moments ago.

All this change was going to take some getting used to.

The end of the day was nearing, and Molly wanted her ice cream. Everyone had already said goodbye to Sandy, when the doctor poked his head in again.

"You have another visitor,"

Sandy screwed up her face in confusion. Who else was there?

Sandy's expression of confusion turned into one of shock as Miss Lynch walked in the door. _Oh yeah, that's another thing I missed…_

"Hello everyone," Miss Lynch said. "Sorry to interrupt but – "

"Hi Miss Lynch!" Patty said excitedly, running to hug her favorite teacher.

"Hello Patty," Miss Lynch said, welcoming her hug. "Anyway, I heard about Sandy from Patty, and I just wanted to see how everyone is doing, especially Sandy,"

"We're fine," said Kenickie, who had also not been awake for Miss Lynch's last visit.

"Yeah we're all great Miss Lynch," Jan said. "How've ya been?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Miss Lynch then gazed at Rizzo, who was sitting on Kenickie's lap with her head resting on his shoulder. She looked into Rizzo's eyes, and Rizzo wanted so badly to look away, but she knew what kind of message that would send. Miss Lynch raised her eyebrows and Rizzo nodded, hoping that was what she wanted. Miss Lynch smiled and nodded, and Rizzo sighed with relief.

"What are you planning on doing about college?" Miss Lynch said to Sandy.

"Well…" Sandy said. "I'm not sure. I would really love to go to Stanford on the scholarship they gave me, but I don't think I can anymore…"

"I'll see what I can do about it," Miss Lynch said. "What about the rest of you?"

"I'm too dumb for college," Sonny chuckled. "Ya said it yourself, Miss Lynch,"

"That was in the heat of the moment," Miss Lynch rolled her eyes. "But really, especially after all this, you're going to need to support yourselves with a good job, and the only way to do that is to go to college,"

They all looked at each other. None of them had even thought about their futures at all. The only thing they had thought about was the fun summer that was ahead of them. They'd worry about college then. It was in that moment that they realized; this is it. Summer is already gone. They're already in the future. Where did the time go?

They all knew the answer to that. The time went crashing into a truck on a slippery road.

"I could look into schools for all of you, if you'd like, seeing that you have other things to worry about right now," Miss Lynch said. "Just tell me what you're all interested in and I'll find something and help you apply,"

Again they all stared at each other. Were they really all ready for something like that?

"Forgive me Miss Lynch, but what kind of job could I possibly do?" Kenickie said bitterly.

Everyone's eyes widened and waited for Miss Lynch's response. "Well…" she began. "I'm sure there are plenty of things you could do in your situation, if you just look into it,"

"Tell ya what," Kenickie said. "When you find it, and I see it, I'll believe it,"

"That's a deal," Miss Lynch said calmly, much to Kenickie's surprise. Why wasn't the old bat yelling at him by now?

"Listen," she continued. "If any of you are interested, talk to me on your way out of here. I'll be waiting in the lobby," And with that she left.

"Geez, it's like we're in school again…" Sonny scoffed.

"Ya know I think she's right…" Jan said. "How much longer are we gonna keep doin' this?"

"Doin' what?" Roger asked.

"Ya know, just sittin' around; waitin' for something to happen," Jan said.

"Well somethin' did happen," Danny said. "Kenickie woke up, then Sandy,"

"Exactly," Jan said. "Everything that happened already happened, and we can't do nothin' about it. But we can do something about our future. We have to. We already spent enough time waitin'. We gotta do something now,"

Everyone sat there taking in her words. Finally after a long silence Marty spoke up.

"I think she's right," she said. "I ain't the smartest person ever, but I'm goin' for it,"

"Me too," Danny said, and Sandy beamed at him.

"I'm doin' it," Doody said. Jan looked at expectantly at Roger, and Marty glared at Sonny.

"I ain't got time for college!" Sonny protested.

"What are ya too busy doin'?" Marty said.

"Um…" that was a good question. "…stuff…"

"Too busy or too lazy?" Jan said.

"Or too scared?" Marty said. Sonny glared at her. "No really; it's a big step. Your whole life ya thought you'd spend your life havin' a good time and all. But this is reality. And if anyone knows reality, we do," Marty said, looking around at all of her friends, every single one of them having suffered through the same horrible ordeal. "C'mon Sonny," Marty said.

"Fine," Sonny said. "I ain't promisin' nothin', ya know my grades are crap,"

"At least you'll try," Marty said, kissing him.

"Ya in, Rog'?" Jan asked.

"Well, my grades are crap too…" Roger said. "But what the hell, I got nothin' to lose,"

Jan giggled happily and planted a kiss on his cheek. Everyone now looked at Rizzo and Kenickie.

"Hey I told ya," Kenickie said. "I'll believe it when I see it,"

Everyone was now staring at Rizzo, who didn't know what to say. She had just finally started to feel safe with the life she had, and now they wanted her to change it all? Her mother finally had a house for them, Kenickie was alive and healthy, well as healthy as he'll get. She was even beginning to adjust to the idea of Kenickie having to use a wheelchair. She didn't think she could handle another change.

"I…I can't…" Rizzo said. "I gotta make sense of what I already got…I can't handle school again too…"

Jan wanted to make an argument, but she understood where Rizzo was coming from. She left it the way it was.

"Oh I'm so excited!" Patty squealed. "You're all going to college!"

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at the energy in the girl.


	27. Chapter 27

_So i just added a bit more to this chapter because it was really short before and chapter 28 will be up soon! This is the same as it was before except with a little extra fluff at the end._

_Hey there! So this chapter includes a slightly, and I mean very slightly mature scene. It's nothing extremely explicit, but there is very light sexual material. Sorry if that makes anyone uncomfortable...merp ok well enjoy and tell me what you think! More news: This story will most likely be ending soon! I know it's very sad, but stay tuned for more of my stories please. Ps this chapter is really short sorry..._

* * *

Danny was sitting with Sandy in her hospital room.

"So, you're going to college?" Sandy said.

"Yeah, if I get in anywhere," Danny shrugged.

"I thought your grades were bad," she said.

"Well, they weren't that bad," Danny admitted. "I just told the guys that to ya know…"

"Seem like a big tough guy?" Sandy chuckled. "How stupid…"

"Yeah I know," Danny said." Bein' tough don't matter no more though. I mean look at Kenickie. He used to be big and tough, and now he's stuck in a wheelchair,"

"Funny how things change huh?" Sandy said thoughtfully. Danny nodded in agreement and thought about the number of times he had said that in the past couple of months.

* * *

Sonny was sitting on the couch holding Marty in his lap, and Roger was sitting on the armchair with Jan in his lap.

"So, how's applyin' for college goin'?" Marty asked.

"I mean it's goin'," Sonny shrugged. "Don't get your hopes up, I ain't cut out for that stuff,"

"Don't say that," Marty said. "Who knows? Ya could be really smart if you tried, ya never know,"

"What's that supposed to mean?"Sonny said.

"Oh come on Sonny," Marty said. "Everyone knows ya didn't even try in high school,"

"Yeah, yeah," Sonny said. "I could be smart huh?"

"Don't let it go to your head," Marty rolled her eyes.

* * *

Kenickie's mom had been asked to go on an overnight trip for her job. It was very important that she go, but she had to stay home and take care of Kenickie. But then Rizzo stepped in and offered to stay with him at his house for the night. First she was wary of the idea, but then when her boss started yelling at her, she warmed up to the idea pretty quickly.

So Kenickie and Rizzo were alone. They both couldn't remember the last time they were alone, besides the hospital of course. Rizzo was making dinner of some sort.

"Ya sure ya don't want any help?" Kenickie kept asking.

"I'm fine!" Rizzo would insist. "I know what I'm doin',"

Well needless to say, dinner wasn't that great.

"Sorry," Rizzo said, throwing out the rest of her meal.

"Whatever," Kenickie shrugged. "No one can cook like my mother,"

"Yeah I ain't no one's mother," Rizzo said. "I ain't cut out for that stuff,"

Rizzo walked past Kenickie but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a passionate kiss.

"Hey," Rizzo said. "Watch it,"

She got up to walk away again, but he pulled her back and kissed all the more passionately.

"Cut it out," Rizzo said, playfully slapping his arm. "What are ya tryin' to do?"

But this time, Kenickie wouldn't even let her get up. He locked his arms around her and kissed her again.

"What's it look like?" Kenickie said.

"Oh really?" Rizzo said. "Two can play at that game," She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him as intensely as he had to her. Her hands tenderly rubbed his back. She backed out of the kiss, and got up again.

"Come on," he said with aggravation, pulling her towards him again.

"I don't know," she whispered in his ear, her airy breath sending chills down Kenickie's spine. "I don't think I wanna,"

She walked away from him. She loved teasing him; she knew it drove him nuts. He watched her walking away, down the hall and into the bathroom. She had made his decision for him. He wheeled himself down the hall and into his bedroom. He waited in the doorway, and when she walked past, he grabbed her. She gasped in surprise and landed in his lap.

"Ya can't get away that easy," he whispered, kissing her again. She was going to kiss back and walk away again, but he wouldn't let her take over this time. He left a trail of hot kisses up and down her neck. She gave up trying to tease him. She wanted him, and she wanted him now. She got up and pushed him to his bed. She lifted his legs onto the bed, and he lifted the rest of his body up with his arms. She made sure he was comfortable, because he wouldn't be able to do much moving. That meant that Rizzo had almost total control.

"Ya sure ya wanna do this?" Kenickie asked, not wanting her to regret this.

"Yeah," She said, wrapping her legs around him and kissing him from his neck up, until she reached his lips. "I'm sure,"

* * *

Rizzo's eyes fluttered open and she immediately felt a sense of safety. She snuggled in closer to Kenickie under the soft sheets. There had been no nightmares that night, just a deep, sound sleep. Feeling Rizzo move, Kenickie woke up and kissed her head.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she whispered, looking up at him.

"So…" Kenickie said nervously. "How was it?" Things certainly had changed since last time, particularly the fact that he couldn't use his legs.

"It was great," Rizzo said sincerely. "Really it was," She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so much.

"Good," Kenickie said coolly, trying to hide his relief. "You weren't bad yourself,"

"Am I ever?" she said kissing him sweetly. "Should I make breakfast?"

"_You_ make food?" Kenickie said. "No way. I learned my lesson last night,"

"Ah, shut up," Rizzo shoved him lightly. "Well, I'm starving, so what do you suggest we do?"

"How about _I_ cook, and you _help_?" Kenickie said.

"Fair enough," Rizzo said getting out of bed. She threw on one of Kenickie's t-shirts and returned to the bed with clothes for him. She helped him put his clothes on and helped him into his chair.

"Ya know I learned to do that myself," Kenickie said.

"That's ok, I don't mind," Rizzo said.

The two of them made eggs together. They turned out much better than dinner had, but they made quite a mess. Rizzo had dropped an egg and some of it had splashed on Kenickie. Kenickie had retaliated by splashing her with some of the same egg. Then the milk spilled, and the eggs fell out of the pan and onto the stove, making a mess on the stove.

They ate their eggs, then sat back and observed the mess they had made. They each let out laughter, and then proceeded to clean up the kitchen. As they cleaned, music was playing softly on Kenickie's record player. When it was clean, Kenickie smiled and outstretched his hand.

"May I have this dance?" he said as gentlemanly as he could. Rizzo smiled and took his hand, sitting on his lap. They rocked back and forth to the gentle music, and in that moment, Rizzo felt happy. And nothing but happy. When was the last time that happened? She took in everything she could from that moment and tried to memorize the feeling. She wanted to feel this way all the time.


	28. Chapter 28

_So this is it! This is the final chapter of this story! It is the longest story I've ever written, and I think the only multi-chapter story that I've finished. I'm very proud of this and I'm so glad I had all of you read it! Thank you so much for staying by me through it all! It took me forever to decide how I should finally end it, and then I knew. So please review one last time, and stay tuned for more of my stories! Thanks again, so much!_

* * *

_Two months later_

And so life went on, as it always did, and always will. Sandy was out of the hospital and home with her family. Sandy, Jan, Marty, Doody, and Danny were to start college after Christmas break, thanks to Miss Lynch. Sonny and Roger would continue to try to get into college.

It was New Year's Eve and the whole gang plus Patty were gathered in Jan's basement. They laughed and had a good time just like they always had. It was eleven thirty and everyone was ready to celebrate the New Year. Everything was oddly quiet, and Jan spoke.

"So…is this it?" she said. "I mean…we're all leavin' tomorrow…we're all goin' different places…what's gonna happen?"

"Gee…" Marty said.

"Hey, don't ya remember?" Danny said. "We'll always be together. Right? Sure we'll be apart for a while, but we'll all be back together one of these days won't we?"

"Right," Doody said. "I mean…Frenchy ain't here no more…but we're all still together right? She's still with us really, ain't she?"

Patty sniffled and snuggled in closer to Doody. Doody looked at her strangely, but then put his arm around her and smiled.

"After all that happened…" Roger said. "We're still together, ain't we?"

"What's a little thing like college gonna do to us?" Sonny said. "We all been to hell and back; I think we can handle this,"

"Yeah, you're right," Kenickie said.

"A-wop-baba-loo-bop!" Sandy said.

"A-wop-bam-boom!" Everyone shouted. They all laughed.

"You guys!" Marty said. "It's almost midnight!"

They all huddled together and counted down until the very last second.

"Five…four…three…two…one!" They all cheered and threw their arms around each other, wishing each other a happy New Year. Rizzo smiled, once again feeling nothing but happiness. She knew that she'd still be broken, but as long as she had her Pinks and her boys, they would keep her held together until the very end.

_Happy New Year French. _She looked up. _I miss ya, kid._

Not long after that, everyone had to leave for college. They said tearful goodbyes at the airport, or the train station, but each one of them knew this wasn't really goodbye. It couldn't have been. After all, what could keep them apart?

_We'll always be together…_


End file.
